Or: People don’t browse your site in a vacuum
Most accessibility training starts by teaching categories: blind users, Deaf users, people with mobility impairments, cognitive impairments, and so on.
But out in the real world, people aren’t categories. They’re messy, distracted, inconsistent, and unique.
They’re using your website from a moving train.
They’re holding a baby, eating toast, and trying to check their bank balance.
They’ve got one AirPod in, the brightness turned way down, and 12 tabs open.
They’re switching from phone to laptop to tablet mid-task.
They’re new to their assistive tech – or new to your interface.
They’re not even sure what went wrong, only that something feels off.
Life is full of moving parts
Maybe you imagined a screen reader user calmly navigating with polished expertise. But some folks are just getting started. Maybe they’re trying out voice control for the first time. Maybe they’re still figuring out what “heading levels” even are.
Or maybe they are experts – but your site is unpredictable, and that makes even simple tasks exhausting.
Real-world users switch between tools, devices, modes of interaction. They zoom in and out. They toggle dark mode. They try a keyboard shortcut, then give up and grab the mouse. They miss the tooltip. They dismiss the alert without reading it.
They make mistakes. They change their minds.
They’re human.
Complexity shouldn’t hit all at once
We often design like people will go through a flow from beginning to end, uninterrupted and fully focused. But that’s not how people use the web.
They get up to answer the door. They lose signal. They forget what they were doing.
That’s why accessibility includes things like:
- Clear landmarks and page titles
- Visible focus indicators
- Obvious headings
- Persistent labels and helpful error messages
- A layout that still works when zoomed to 400%
These aren’t “extra features.” They’re anchors in a chaotic experience.
And for users with cognitive impairments, or those navigating stress, trauma, or fatigue, the ability to pause, restart, and orient themselves isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s a necessity.
Design for what’s real
If your site only works when people are calm, focused, and fully able, it doesn’t work.
Design for interruption.
Design for recovery.
Design for the mess.
Because that’s where real life happens.