Not all accessibility barriers affect only people with permanent disabilities. Millions of people encounter the same barriers every day due to temporary injuries, environmental conditions, and situational constraints. This insight — that disability exists on a spectrum of permanence — is the foundation of universal design: designing for the full range of human variation benefits everyone.
The spectrum of disability
Permanent
Temporary
Situational
One arm
Arm in a cast
Holding a child
Blind
Post-surgery vision impairment
Bright sunlight on screen
Deaf
Ear infection causing temporary hearing loss
Noisy open-plan office
Non-verbal
Laryngitis
In a meeting where talking is inappropriate
Cognitive disability
Post-anaesthesia cognitive fog
Distracted, multitasking
Low motor control
Broken finger
Wearing winter gloves
Chronic fatigue
Recovery from illness
After a long shift
Every person will experience situational and temporary barriers at multiple points in their life. An estimated 100% of people will experience disability at some point — through aging alone if nothing else.
Why this matters for Canadian organizations
Leadership
The business case for accessibility becomes much clearer when you include temporary and situational users:
Captions serve users who are Deaf (permanent), users with ear infections (temporary), and users watching video in a quiet office or a noisy coffee shop (situational). That is most people at some point.
Large touch targets serve users with motor disabilities (permanent), users with a sprained thumb (temporary), and users wearing gloves in a Canadian winter (situational).
Plain language serves users with cognitive disabilities (permanent), users who are tired or stressed (temporary), and users who are reading in their second language (situational).
Keyboard navigation serves users who cannot use a mouse (permanent), users with a broken finger (temporary), and power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts (situational preference).
When you design accessibly, you improve the experience for your entire user base, not just the ~22% of Canadians with a declared disability.
Common situational barriers
Bright sunlight (low contrast)
Barrier
A user checks a transit schedule on their phone in direct sunlight — low-contrast text becomes invisible against a washed-out screen.
Assistive Technology
None — sufficient contrast is the design solution
Design Consideration
Meeting WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratios (4.5:1 for text) helps in moderate sunlight. AAA contrast (7:1) significantly improves readability in bright outdoor conditions. This is one reason AAA contrast is recommended for mobile-heavy audiences.
One-handed use (baby, bag, transit pole)
Barrier
A user on a crowded bus holds a pole with one hand and tries to book a reservation on their phone — interactions that require two hands, pinch-to-zoom, or complex gestures cannot be completed.
Assistive Technology
None — single-pointer alternatives are the design solution
Design Consideration
Provide single-pointer alternatives to all multi-finger gestures (WCAG 2.5.1 Level AA). Large touch targets, swipe alternatives via buttons, and thumb-reachable navigation all serve one-handed users.
Noisy environment (watching video without headphones)
Barrier
A user watches a product tutorial in a shared workspace without headphones — they cannot hear the audio explanation of what is being demonstrated.
Assistive Technology
None — captions and transcripts are the design solution
Design Consideration
Captions on all video content serve users in noisy environments exactly as they serve Deaf users. The same caption file works for both. This is one of the highest-value accessibility investments for general audiences.
Wearing gloves (winter, medical, industrial)
Barrier
A construction worker in winter gloves tries to tap a small 'Accept' button on a contractor portal — small touch targets require removing gloves to activate reliably.
Assistive Technology
None — target size is the design solution
Design Consideration
44×44px touch targets (WCAG 2.5.5 AAA) are significantly easier to activate while wearing gloves than the 24×24px WCAG 2.2 AA minimum. In sectors where gloved use is likely, target 44×44px across the board.
Slow connection (rural Canada, travel)
Barrier
A user in rural northern Ontario with poor mobile coverage tries to access a government service — the site loads slowly or fails because it depends on large JavaScript bundles and image-heavy layouts.
Assistive Technology
None — performance and progressive enhancement are the design solution
Design Consideration
Accessibility and performance overlap: semantic HTML loads before JavaScript; text content loads before images; alt text appears when images do not load. A progressively enhanced site works at all connection speeds.
Unfamiliar with technology (new to smartphones, elderly)
Barrier
An older adult who has recently started using a smartphone tries to complete an online service — non-standard navigation patterns, unlabelled icon buttons, and jargon create unnecessary barriers.
Assistive Technology
None — plain language and consistent design are the design solution
Design Consideration
Plain language, descriptive button labels (not icon-only), consistent layout, and forgiving error handling with helpful messages serve users who are new to digital services — who are disproportionately older adults.
Aging and disability
Canada’s population is aging rapidly. The share of Canadians over 65 is projected to reach 25% by 2036. Vision, hearing, cognitive, and motor ability all change with age — and not in ways that necessarily cross a threshold into “disability.”
Contrast sensitivity decreases steadily from middle age — the AAA contrast target (7:1) becomes important even for users who would not identify as having low vision
Working memory decreases — simpler navigation, fewer steps, and clear confirmation flows are beneficial
Fine motor control decreases — larger targets, more forgiving touch zones
Hearing loss is extremely prevalent — 46% of Canadians aged 60–79 have some hearing loss
Designing for older adults and designing for accessibility are largely the same work. An organization serving a general Canadian audience is, de facto, serving a population where a significant portion have one or more of these characteristics.
The universal design payoff
Leadership
Universal design delivers value at multiple levels:
Extended market reach
6.2 million Canadians with disabilities
Additional millions with temporary or situational constraints
Aging population with age-related functional changes
Users in challenging environments (outdoor workers, travellers)
Users on low-end devices or slow connections
Reduced support costs
When a service is not accessible, users call, email, or visit in person to get help. Every accessibility barrier is a potential support ticket. Organizations that have remediated accessibility barriers report reductions of 20–40% in accessibility-related support volume.
Legal risk mitigation
The AODA, ACA, and human rights codes protect all of these users — not just those with formal disability designations. An inaccessible mobile experience may expose an Ontario organization to AODA non-compliance even if their primary motivation was situational users.
SEO and findability
Search engines are non-visual crawlers. Semantic headings, descriptive alt text, logical link text, and fast load times all improve search ranking — the same attributes that serve screen reader users.
Future-proofing
New interaction paradigms — voice interfaces, wearables, brain-computer interfaces — rely on the same semantic structure as screen readers. A well-structured, accessible web experience is more adaptable to interfaces that do not yet exist.
Where to start
If your organization is new to accessibility, the good news about the temporary/situational framing is that the technical solutions are the same whether the user is permanently disabled or situationally constrained:
Add captions to all video content — serves Deaf users, busy office workers, and anyone watching on a muted phone
Increase contrast — serves users with low vision, older adults, and anyone in bright sunlight
Increase touch target size — serves motor-impaired users and anyone using a phone one-handed or in gloves
Write plain language — serves users with cognitive disabilities, second-language users, stressed or tired users, and first-time visitors to your service
Each of these changes improves the experience for a much larger share of your users than the 22% with declared disabilities.
Related pages
Vision Disabilities — permanent barriers and the same solutions that help situational users