Disability and Work Topics 101: What Is Accessibility (Really)?
Author(s): Noor Al-Azary & Emily Watling
Visuals by: Melissa Pagliaro
Audio Narrator: Noor Al-Azary
Introduction
Imagine showing up to work excited to contribute, only to find out you can’t get through the front door. Or you can get in, but the software you need isn’t compatible with your screen reader. Or maybe you’re expected to attend team meetings, but they’re always scheduled during your medical appointments.
Accessibility isn’t just about ramps and elevators. It’s about making sure everyone can participate in work and life fully, comfortably, and equitably.
So, what is accessibility really? Let’s unpack it.
Accessibility Means Removing Barriers
Accessibility is the practice of designing environments, systems, and experiences so that everyone, including people with disabilities, can participate fully. It includes physical, digital, and social environments. And it’s not a bonus or a favour, it’s a right.[1] This right is supported by international agreements like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which treats accessibility as a general duty to remove barriers across built environments, services, and systems.[2]
Accessibility in the workplace involves many considerations, such as:
- Physical access to buildings and workspaces, such as ramps, elevators, and automatic doors.
- Digital access to websites, documents, and tools, including screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation.
- Flexible work arrangements, like remote work options or adjustable schedules.
- Communication supports, such as sign language interpretation or plain language materials.
- Inclusive hiring practices that welcome diverse candidates and accommodate different needs.
These are just a few of the conditions needed to ensure accessibility in the workplace. However, to make things truly accessible, we need to consider many factors. Participation in life involves engaging in different areas, like work, community, and school, and in a variety of ways, including physical spaces, digital spaces, and social interactions. Disabilities are also diverse. For all these reasons, there is a lot to consider when it comes to creating access. Accessibility is not a checklist but an ongoing process.
Accessibility is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Here’s a common misconception: “we renovated our building, so we’re accessible now.”
Not quite.
Updating building infrastructure for accessibility, such as installing ramps or automatic doors, is important. Automatic doors, for example, address physical access barriers by removing the need for physical force and providing wide enough entranceways and exits for mobility device users. However, physical access to a building is only one aspect. Below are just a few examples of how modifying the sensory environment or work structure can make the workplace more accessible:
- A quiet space might help someone with sensory sensitivities be able to focus and feel comfortable.
- Captions on videos support Deaf employees and can also help people learning English or working in noisy environments.
- Flexible hours can support someone managing chronic pain or fatigue, allowing them to work when they feel their best.
Accessibility is about removing barriers and designing with the full range of human diversity in mind, including different ability, language, culture, and context.[3]
Who in the workplace is responsible for achieving this goal?
Accessibility is a Shared Responsibility
Here’s another myth: “Accessibility is HR’s responsibility.”
Employers do have a legal duty to accommodate. However, everyone in an organization plays a part in ensuring access. For example, while leadership is responsible for setting the tone, creating an accessibility strategy, and monitoring and reporting on progress, IT contributes to developing an inclusive and accessible digital environment and culture. Whether it’s choosing accessible software, writing inclusive job postings, or arranging seating at events, each organizational decision impacts accessibility. Because we all experience barriers in different ways, true accessibility means we all recognize and work to remove barriers together.
Think of it like safety. Just as we all contribute to a safe workplace, we all contribute to an accessible one.
And when we do, everyone benefits. Accessible design often improves experiences for all users. Ever used an elevator with a stroller? Or appreciated an automatic push button when your hands are full, or for a particularly heavy door? These features were designed with accessibility in mind and ended up helping a much broader group of people.
Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Although accessibility generally refers to how we make environments, systems, devices, and tools usable by people with disabilities, accessibility often makes life better for everyone.
Take predictive text, for example. This feature, now standard on nearly every smartphone, was originally developed to help people with physical disabilities type with less effort and strain. By reducing the number of keystrokes needed, it made communication faster and more accessible.[4, 5]
Today, predictive text helps millions of people write texts, email, and search queries more quickly. What started as an accessibility feature has become a convenience for all, showing how designing for accessibility benefits everyone. It’s a tool that saves time, reduces errors, and supports communication across languages and literacy levels. The same can be said about automatic push buttons on doors, audiobooks, high-contrast settings on screens, and even e-mail, which were all originally conceived for people with disabilities but are now used broadly.[5]
When predictive text was introduced, it quickly became popular beyond its intended audience because people with and without disabilities found it useful. This illustrates how accessibility features often benefit everyone. To design with that in mind, we need an approach that anticipates diverse needs from the start, an approach called universal design.
What is Universal Design?
The concept of universal design (UD) has emerged as a way to achieve accessibility. UD is the idea that products, environments, and systems should be designed to be usable by as many people as possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.[6]
UD grew out of accessible design and gained momentum in the 1980s and 1990s, especially as digital technologies grew.[7] Influential figures like Selwyn Goldsmith challenged exclusionary design practices and promoted inclusive spaces.[8] In 1997, Ronald Mace and a team of design experts developed the 7 Principles of UD to guide the creation of products and environments that are usable by all people.[9] These principles were so impactful that they were later included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007 – the fastest negotiated human rights treaty in UN history.[10]
To learn more about the 7 Design Principles of UD, download our infographic resource here!
Unlike accessibility practices that often address specific barriers after they arise, UD integrates inclusivity from the start, reducing future costs and improving user experience. For example, when the Central Bank of Ireland moved into a new headquarters in Dublin, it was designed and built according to UD principles so it would be inclusive and accessible for employees and visitors. The building features many accessibility features, including split-level reception desks that accommodate wheelchair use and include hearing enhancement systems for people who are D/deaf or Hard of Hearing, wide doors with visual contrast and vision panels, induction loops to promote hearing in meeting rooms, and tactile floor guidance systems to support safe navigation.[11] By following UD principles from the outset, the Central Bank of Ireland didn’t need to be retrofitted to become accessible. Examples like this show how UD is a proactive strategy that not only creates environments everyone can participate in but can drive equity and innovation.
CCRW’s Role in Advancing Accessibility
CCRW works with employers, job seekers, community partners, researchers, and advocates to make work more accessible for people with disabilities. We are the only national charitable organization with the sole mission of advancing disability inclusion in the labour market.
CCRW’s Employment Services operate in 11 locations across Canada, providing:
- Employer training on inclusive hiring and building disability confidence
- Direct support to employers to implement accommodations and hire workers with disabilities
- Job search support for job seekers with disabilities
- eLearning and training for workers with disabilities to build skills
CCRW shows its commitment to accessibility in many domains. CCRW’s Research Team is dedicated to uncovering the accessibility barriers that prevent full participation in work for people with disabilities. Our projects explore accessibility barriers from different angles. For example, one examines how to support D/deaf and Hard of Hearing jobseekers in British Columbia; another looked at how emotional and social skills affect employment success; and a third studies the transition from school to work for college and university students with disabilities.[12] These projects help us identify emerging accessibility barriers for persons with disabilities and build evidence-based solutions that remove barriers to employment.
Alongside this work, CCRW is also strengthening its commitment to digital accessibility. This includes ensuring that our online tools and resources follow accessible design practices, and developing platforms like Untapped Talent, our accessible job board designed to reduce digital barriers in the hiring process. By improving how information is shared and accessed, we support a more inclusive digital future for everyone.
Accessibility is a journey we take together. Whether you're an employer, a colleague, a policymaker, or someone navigating barriers yourself, you have a role to play in shaping a more inclusive world. By embracing accessibility and universal design, we don’t just meet legal requirements—we create environments where everyone can thrive. At CCRW, we’re committed to walking this path alongside you, offering tools, research, and partnerships that move us all forward.
References
[1] Government of Canada. (2019). Accessible Canada Act. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-0.6/
[2] Broderick, A. (2020). Of rights and obligations: the birth of accessibility. The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(4), 393–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2019.1634556
[3] Web Accessibility Initiative. (2025). Accessibility Fundamentals Overview. W3C. https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/
[4] Wobbrock, J. O., & Myers, B. A. (2006). Trackball text entry for people with motor impairments. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, 1(2), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1145/1408760.1408763
[5] Aurora50. (2023, May 18). The accessibility features we all use. https://aurora50.com/the-accessibility-features-we-all-use/
[6] Center for Universal Design. (1997). The Principles of Universal Design. North Carolina State University. https://projects.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm
[7] Broderick, A. (2020). Of rights and obligations: the birth of accessibility. The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(4), 393–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2019.1634556
[8] Historic England. (n.d.). Disability Access and Adaptation. https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1945-to-the-present-day/disability-access-and-adaptation/
[9] Centre for Excellence in Universal Design. (n.d.). The 7 principles. National Disability Authority. https://universaldesign.ie/about-universal-design/the-7-principles
[10] Smith, K. H., & Preiser, W. F. E. (2011). Universal design handbook (2nd ed). McGraw-Hill.
[11] Fembek, M., & Ruhm, F. (2024). Champions of Inclusive Spaces. Essl Foundation. https://zeroproject.org/fileadmin/root_zeroproject/Downloads/Publications/2024_Inclusive-Spaces-Report_ZeroProject_SGENable.pdf
[12] Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work. (n.d.). Research. https://ccrw.org/research/
