Myth: Accessibility is for people with disabilities
Tags: a11y, webdev
Published: 2021-09-10 21:39:00

---
title: Myth: Accessibility is for people with disabilities
published: true
description: There are many misconceptions surrounding Web Accessibility, most of the times fueled by lack of knowledge (or interest) in the matter. This article is a collection of some of those accessibility misconceptions or myths.
tags: a11y,webdev
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/5hehcxw23j2eoyq2n2ep.jpg
canonical_url: https://alvaromontoro.com/blog/67989/myths-about-web-accessibility#accessibility-is-for-people-with-disabilities
series: Myths about Web Accessibility
---

<aside><blockquote><small><strong>There is an <a href="https://dev.to/alvaromontoro/myths-about-web-accessibility-237k">all-in-one article including every part from this series</a> (if you want prefer to read it all at once instead of "by installments")</strong></small></blockquote><hr/></aside>


This myth is a variation of the above. We already made clear that accessibility is not only for blind people, but we must not think it only impacts people with disabilities. It actually affects everyone!

There are [invisible and situation disabilities](https://userway.org/blog/how-situational-disabilities-impact-us-all) that impair people and limit what they can do temporarily (or even permanently). You may...

- ...break a bone while playing basketball and be unable to use the mouse/keyboard on your computer. 
- ...be pregnant or have restless children that don't let you sleep at night, and then have sleep deprivation that doesn't let you focus during the day.
- ...get an ear infection that baffles the sounds and prevents you from hearing your phone.
- ...have common migraines that cause you to have "clouded vision" and short attention spans.

There are surrounded by examples like these. Every day. Everywhere. Pay attention, and you will start noticing them more and more.

<figure>
![Photography showing different runners in a race. One of them is in a wheelchair](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/37uliedl4sylfq00311m.jpg)
<figcaption>If I said 3 of these people had disabilities. Could you tell who? (picture: <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-men-running-on-streets-2403057/">
RUN 4 FFWPU</a>)<br/>&nbsp;</figcaption>
</figure>

Some people may think now:

> Those are disabilities! Also, that's great... but that's not me. I have never broken a bone, and I don't plan on having kids, and I have loud ringtones... Oh, and I will stay young forever, too. So Web Accessibility doesn't apply to me.

Great confidence there, but that's wrong. Even if you are a fully healthy individual, you may find yourself in situations where Web Accessibility will help you. For example, using your laptop outside and the reflection doesn't let you read, wouldn't you want more contrast? Camping in the forest and the key images for the "what to do when a snake bites you?" article timeout or don't load correctly, wouldn't you want an alternative text that would help you?

There are many more examples like that: people in remote areas with low connection, people with not state-of-the-art computers and phones, granny asking you for help because the text is too small to read... Don't underestimate the reach of Web Accessibility.