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Accessibility is your superpower

I had the opportunity to return to Stella Maris College, Chennai, my alma mater, to deliver a session on Accessibility and Inclusion in Design.

Role
Guest Speaker
Audience
Undergraduate students
Focus
Accessibility, Inclusive Design, User Experience Design, Design Thinking
Slide 1: Designing without Barriers — Accessibility is your secret superpower. Gayathri Muthalagu, Product Designer at Compass Education.

About the session

The presentation focused on why accessibility should be considered a fundamental part of the design process rather than an afterthought. Through real-world examples and practical design considerations, I explored how inclusive design helps remove barriers, improves usability, and creates better experiences for people with diverse abilities, technologies, and contexts of use.

The session encouraged students to think beyond academic requirements and consider the real people who interact with the products and services they design. It was a valuable opportunity to share industry perspectives on designing with empathy, accessibility, and inclusion at the forefront.

This session was for undergraduate students who were starting, or considering taking, a design module. The college had just introduced a new Design Thinking subject, so it was a great opportunity to introduce them to accessibility. :D

Presentation slides

  1. Slide 1: Designing without Barriers — Accessibility is your secret superpower. Gayathri Muthalagu, Product Designer at Compass Education.
  2. Slide 2: How well can you do these things? Use your phone at 10% brightness, try your non-dominant hand, and more accessibility exercises.
  3. Slide 3: What is accessibility? Designing for everyone — visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive abilities.
  4. Slide 4: Why we need accessibility — everyone experiences limits, and accessibility helps in every situation.
  5. Slide 5: How to design for accessibility — with empathy, not checklists, and real-world contexts in mind.
  6. Slide 6: Why you should care about accessibility as a designer — stronger design, better collaboration, and standout work.
  7. Slide 7: What does this button say? Click me! — low-contrast button example.
  8. Slide 8: What does this button say? Click me! — improved contrast button example.
  9. Slide 9: Colours are perceived differently by different people.
  10. Slide 10: Inclusive design basics — minimum color contrast and alt text for images and non-interactive components.
  11. Slide 11: Design is only complete when everyone can use it. Thank you!

Thoughts

I had a fun time during this presentation! I got to go back to college and catch up with my Professors.

It’s really nice to see Colleges and Universities try and include Design as their subject offerings.

It’s also refreshing to see students show interest in Design Thinking and Accessibility. I really hope I got to get students to see accessibility a part of Design rather than an after thought! :)

This session was for undergraduate students who were starting, or considering taking, a design module. The college had just introduced a new Design Thinking subject, so it was a great opportunity to introduce them to accessibility. :D

Reach out to me

Interested in looking at the full works or want to connect? Send me a message and I’ll get back to you.