Disability-Inclusive Personas
Build personas where disability is woven into the full picture of a
person — their goals, frustrations, context, and behaviour — not
isolated as a special category.
The Problem with "Accessibility Personas"
Most teams either:
- Create personas with no mention of disability at all, or
- Create separate "accessibility personas" that exist only to
represent a disability
Both fail. The first excludes. The second reduces a person to their
disability and ensures they're only considered when someone remembers
to look at the "accessibility slide."
The Better Approach
Every persona set should include disability as one dimension among
many — the same way you include age, technical confidence, or
context of use. Some personas will have disabilities. All personas
exist in contexts that create situational impairment.
Persona Dimensions to Include
For every persona, consider:
Permanent Disability
- Visual: blind, low vision, colour vision deficiency
- Hearing: deaf, hard of hearing
- Motor: limited dexterity, tremor, paralysis, limb difference
- Cognitive: dyslexia, ADHD, autism, memory difficulties
- Speech: stutter, non-verbal, atypical speech
Temporary Impairment
- Broken arm, eye surgery recovery, concussion, medication side
effects, ear infection, dental procedure
Situational Impairment
- Bright sunlight on screen, noisy environment, carrying a child,
wearing gloves, driving, multitasking, unfamiliar language,
emotional distress, fatigue
Intersectionality
- A persona can have multiple conditions
- Disability intersects with age, language, income, technical skill
- A 65-year-old with low vision AND limited broadband AND a
second language has compounding access barriers
How to Include Disability Naturally
In the Bio
Don't: "Sarah is blind."
Do: "Sarah is a project manager who has been blind since birth.
She uses JAWS screen reader on her work laptop and VoiceOver on
her iPhone. She's fast with keyboard shortcuts and gets frustrated
by interfaces that waste her time."
In Goals and Frustrations
Don't: list disability under "Challenges"
Do: show how the disability shapes what good and bad experiences
look like. "Sarah's goal is to review her team's status updates
in under 10 minutes. Her biggest frustration is dashboards that
require a mouse to access key data."
In Context of Use
Include the assistive technology and environment:
- What device and assistive technology do they use?
- What's their environment? (noisy, quiet, mobile, desktop)
- What's their energy level? (morning, end of long day)
- Who else is present? (alone, with family, in public)
In the Scenario
The persona's scenario should show them using the product with
their actual setup — not a theoretical clean-room test.
Minimum Diversity Rule
For any persona set of 4 or more:
- At least one persona should have a permanent disability
- At least one persona should have a situational impairment
- At least two personas should vary in technical confidence
- The set should vary across age, language, and context
This is a minimum, not a target.
Assessment Questions
- Does the persona set include at least one person with a disability?
- Is disability integrated into the full persona, not isolated?
- Are assistive technology and environment specified?
- Does the persona's scenario reflect real-world usage with their setup?
- Are situational impairments represented across the set?
1---2name: disability-inclusive-personas3description: Create user personas that include disability as a natural dimension of human diversity — not as a separate 'accessibility persona'. Use when creating personas, user profiles, proto-personas, or any representation of target users. Triggers on: persona, user persona, proto-persona, user profile, target user, who is the user, disability persona, accessibility persona, inclusive persona.4---56# Disability-Inclusive Personas78Build personas where disability is woven into the full picture of a9person — their goals, frustrations, context, and behaviour — not10isolated as a special category.1112## The Problem with "Accessibility Personas"1314Most teams either:151. Create personas with no mention of disability at all, or162. Create separate "accessibility personas" that exist only to17 represent a disability1819Both fail. The first excludes. The second reduces a person to their20disability and ensures they're only considered when someone remembers21to look at the "accessibility slide."2223## The Better Approach2425Every persona set should include disability as one dimension among26many — the same way you include age, technical confidence, or27context of use. Some personas will have disabilities. All personas28exist in contexts that create situational impairment.2930## Persona Dimensions to Include3132For every persona, consider:3334### Permanent Disability35- Visual: blind, low vision, colour vision deficiency36- Hearing: deaf, hard of hearing37- Motor: limited dexterity, tremor, paralysis, limb difference38- Cognitive: dyslexia, ADHD, autism, memory difficulties39- Speech: stutter, non-verbal, atypical speech4041### Temporary Impairment42- Broken arm, eye surgery recovery, concussion, medication side43 effects, ear infection, dental procedure4445### Situational Impairment46- Bright sunlight on screen, noisy environment, carrying a child,47 wearing gloves, driving, multitasking, unfamiliar language,48 emotional distress, fatigue4950### Intersectionality51- A persona can have multiple conditions52- Disability intersects with age, language, income, technical skill53- A 65-year-old with low vision AND limited broadband AND a54 second language has compounding access barriers5556## How to Include Disability Naturally5758### In the Bio59Don't: "Sarah is blind."60Do: "Sarah is a project manager who has been blind since birth.61She uses JAWS screen reader on her work laptop and VoiceOver on62her iPhone. She's fast with keyboard shortcuts and gets frustrated63by interfaces that waste her time."6465### In Goals and Frustrations66Don't: list disability under "Challenges"67Do: show how the disability shapes what good and bad experiences68look like. "Sarah's goal is to review her team's status updates69in under 10 minutes. Her biggest frustration is dashboards that70require a mouse to access key data."7172### In Context of Use73Include the assistive technology and environment:74- What device and assistive technology do they use?75- What's their environment? (noisy, quiet, mobile, desktop)76- What's their energy level? (morning, end of long day)77- Who else is present? (alone, with family, in public)7879### In the Scenario80The persona's scenario should show them using the product with81their actual setup — not a theoretical clean-room test.8283## Minimum Diversity Rule8485For any persona set of 4 or more:86- At least one persona should have a permanent disability87- At least one persona should have a situational impairment88- At least two personas should vary in technical confidence89- The set should vary across age, language, and context9091This is a minimum, not a target.9293## Assessment Questions94951. Does the persona set include at least one person with a disability?962. Is disability integrated into the full persona, not isolated?973. Are assistive technology and environment specified?984. Does the persona's scenario reflect real-world usage with their setup?995. Are situational impairments represented across the set?
Owl Listener