I’m Brendan Mac Donagh, the Technical Director of AccessPoint, and I lead our team in all of our digital inclusion projects. I have over eight years of experience designing, developing, and testing inclusive digital platforms, including for flagship public and private sector clients.
The following pillars outline my accessibility philosophy, and highlight what makes our approach at AccessPoint truly unique.
No detail is too small
In an industry obsessed with reaching fixed standards of inclusion, it can be easy to forget the tangible benefits that come from deliberate and meaningful accessibility work. As with any other project, a desire to reach total compliance and accessibility should not limit us from making good faith remediations on a smaller scale. As any discussion with real users reveals, even the smallest changes can make significant improvements to usability and legibility. This should always be our goal, not box-ticking for the sake of compliance.
Inclusion is not black and white. Small improvements always matter, regardless of the technical compliance of the wider project.
Compliance is just a minimum, never the end goal
Likewise, by focusing on compliance, we often forget what is possible beyond this limited goal. When we take a more open-minded view of accessibility, we can gain commercial and usability benefits which are not included in the scope of legal compliance.
Digital inclusion means providing a better experience to more users, and should reflect the actual desires and needs of the users themselves, not the defined limits of WCAG categories. This allows us to create solutions that are more accessible, more effective, and more beautiful.
This also allows us to take opportunities we may otherwise neglect. Accessibility work can dovetail with UX improvements, search engine optimisation, and even AI visibility upgrades. Keeping an open mind lets us take full advantage of these commercial opportunities.
Accessibility is beautiful
As anyone who’s actually worked on accessible websites will understand, there is no need to sacrifice visual quality for digital inclusion. In recent years, I’ve personally had the pleasure of working on beautiful and award-winning platforms such as SETU and Nexus Inclusion, as well as our ongoing work with the NDA, Ireland’s flagship accessibility website.
A major issue across the accessibility space is the perception that inclusive design is boring, bland, or less appealing. I refuse to accept this, and am determined to continue building beautiful and inclusive solutions. Digital inclusion should be something we are proud of, and the appearance of these websites should reflect that.
Get in touch
If you’d like to hear more of my thoughts on digital inclusion, or get started on your own accessibility project, just get in touch today. I’d love to hear from you and your team!