Folk Tech March 2026 - Eric Bailey on inclusive design

Context

Eric Bailey (he/him), Senior Accessibility Designer at GitHub, discusses accessibility as a design practice, inclusive habits, and the role of open source and advocacy in improving digital access.

Key concepts and analysis

Accessibility as good design

Accessibility functions as a practical “cheat sheet” for making interfaces usable by more people. Many accessible patterns also produce generally better UX.

Social model of disability

Disability arises from the interaction between people and environments (including software). Design should reduce barriers rather than attempt to “fix” people.

Performance and device diversity (“Craptop Day”)

Assume users may be on older, locked-down, or low-powered devices. Poor performance is itself an accessibility barrier.

Semantic correctness vs. fakery

Prefer appropriate underlying elements (native controls and correct semantics) instead of visually imitating controls. Proper semantics improve interoperability with assistive technologies.

Neurodiversity-friendly design

Calm, predictable, segmented, and consistent interfaces support neurodivergent users. Many of these principles are simply good design for everyone.

Politics, business constraints, and law

Commercial incentives often work against inclusive defaults. Legal frameworks and collective action (e.g., Section 508, the “Capitol Crawl” history) have been crucial for advancing access.

Open source as a strengths-based model

Open-source assistive technologies (for example, NVDA) provide affordable alternatives and allow communities to build, iterate, and share solutions tuned to real needs.

Accessibility innovation history

Many mainstream technologies started as assistive tech (keyboards, captions/subtitles, voice recognition, glasses). Designing for access can drive broader innovation.

“Build for all” critique

“Everyone” is often too vague to be useful. Focus on specific contexts, collaborate with affected communities, and emphasize iterative improvement over perfection.

Practical guidance / actionable tips

• Run basic automated checks first (contrast, semantic issues, ARIA) to clear low-hanging fruit before requesting community reviews.
• Invite people from disability communities with humility and curiosity; pursue community outreach and partnerships.
• Test on lower-end hardware and locked-down corporate setups to expose performance-related barriers.
• Prioritize semantic HTML and native controls to maximize assistive technology compatibility.
• Adopt a disability-informed, iterative design practice — progress over perfection.
• Engage with advocacy organizations and leverage legal frameworks when systemic change is required.

Examples, tools, and references

• NVDA — free, open-source Windows screen reader
• JAWS — commercial screen reader
• Section 508 — U.S. accessibility standard
• “Capitol Crawl” — historical activism that helped spur legal accessibility mandates
• Meryl K. Evans — advocate promoting “progress over perfection”
• GitHub — Eric’s employer; relevant platform context

Main speaker / sources

• Eric Bailey — Senior Accessibility Designer, GitHub (primary speaker)
• Interview/host — unnamed moderator for the session
• Referenced projects/people: NVDA, JAWS, Section 508, “Capitol Crawl,” Meryl K. Evans