accessibility

# Accessibility Accessibility answers one question: > **Can someone use this with assistive tools, a different input method, or a different ability?** It is specifically about people with disabilities being able to **perceive, understand, navigate, and interact** with a product on equal terms — whether they use a screen reader, only a keyboard, a switch, voice control, magnification, or captions. This is the *ability* half of designing for everyone. The *context* half — language, culture, device, affordability, confidence — belongs to the sibling **inclusive-design** skill. They overlap but have different focuses; keep them distinct so neither gets diluted. ## When to use Use this skill when the task involves any of: WCAG conformance, ARIA, semantic markup, screen-reader support, keyboard/focus management, color contrast, text alternatives (alt text, captions, transcripts), accessible forms and error messages, target sizes, timing/timeouts, motion sensitivity, or cognitive accessibility. Also use it whenever someone asks to "make this accessible," run an a11y audit, or check whether a disabled user can complete a task. **When *not* to use it:** if the real concern is who gets *left out* by context — non-English speakers, people on cheap phones or slow networks, people who can't afford data, first-time or anxious users, or global name/address formats — that is inclusion, not accessibility. Switch to the **inclusive-design** skill. ## The mental model: POUR WCAG organiz...