When to consider accessibility in the design process

As a kid I crew up in Cornwall, it was the 70s so I was allowed to run a little feral. Me and my friends were master den makers, wood, old doors, branches, blankets and the occasional squirrel were tethered together to make our gang headquarters. Now my brother came along, he’s my big bro snd he’s pretty ace n smart (don’t tell him I said that 😜) and he is a bigger bro, as I’m tiny, so were my troop. We had not made the door big enough to let him in, even if he did manage to squeeze in, the inner sanctum was only designed for us younger kids. We tried to widen the door, but had to remove a wall, a branch, some sticks & before we knew it the whole thing needed redoing…

Anyway… I digress, the point — it’s important that when you are designing, you design access for all, not just you and those like you. As fellow Snook Alex Cleator likes to say, it’s cheaper to address the access at the start rather than try to knit in once you’ve finished… I am no expert, but I work with them and I have daily reminders that we need to stop building digital products with out ramps to enter and navigation that works for all- if we don’t well, we just end up stood around a pile of broken branches, with all of us disappointed…. and an angry squirrel
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Image description : the @designcouncil double diamond extended — from establish, define, develop, deliver through to reflect in black & red on white- above arrows point to “here” “here” “here” across the diamonds to last space that says “not just panic here” the title says when to consider accessibility in the design process