Voices - EIDD
Design for All isn't about compliance, it's about recognising that exclusion is often created by well-intentioned systems. We spoke with the leaders of EIDD Design for All about why the EAA should be a floor, not a ceiling and why accessibility is about majorities, not minorities.
After 30 years of Design for All in Europe, what is still missing from policymaking? What's the hardest thing for decision-makers to understand?
Rama Gheeravo: Design is radically misunderstood. Everything around us is designed — yet in accessibility conversations, design is often missing. We talk policy, economics, sustainability, but we rarely bring designers to the table. Design isn't a cost, it's a capability. Inclusion isn't an add-on — it's a strategic competence that actually strengthens innovation, resilience, and competitiveness.
The phrase "for all" doesn't mean minority groups. In many EU countries, older people already outnumber the under-25s. We're not talking minorities here, we're talking ignored majorities.
The European Accessibility Act shouldn't be treated as a ceiling. It's the bare minimum, not the ultimate goal. In a diverse, digitally dependent, rapidly ageing Europe, settling for minimum requirements holds back innovation. Bringing law, design and people together is where the magic happens.
Ivelina Gadzheva: What’s still missing is not regulation. It is ownership of lived consequences.
Europe has built strong legal frameworks and minimum standards, but Design for All asks for something deeper: the courage to recognise that exclusion is often created by well-intentioned systems. Accessibility is still treated as a technical layer added after decisions are made, instead of a design condition shaping those decisions from the start.
The hardest thing for decision-makers to grasp is simple and uncomfortable: you cannot regulate empathy, but you can design for it. Design for All becomes transformative only when human diversity is treated as normal, predictable, and valuable, not as an exception to be managed.
What can businesses miss by viewing accessibility too narrowly through the EAA compliance lens?
Rama: Three things: a wider market, innovation potential, and employee impact.
Design for All asks who is excluded across many criteria, not just disability. Two wheelchair users are never the same. A visually impaired person in their 70s might have radically different needs than an individual in their 30s. There are 1.5 billion people with registered disabilities worldwide. Add temporary and hidden impairments, and the market size grows exponentially.
On innovation: subtitles were made for hearing loss, but now 85% of users don't have a hearing impairment. If you were designing a tennis racket, you'd go to Serena Williams — one of the best in the world. People with disabilities drive innovation because they have different needs. Power tools designed with 80-year-olds can outsell everything else because they're easier to use.
Finally, employees. Wheelchair access covers less than 5% of registered disabilities. What about the other 95%? We're missing workplace talent. The EAA is a carrot and stick: happier employees and wider markets are the carrot; future penalties are the stick.
Iva: When accessibility is reduced to EAA compliance, businesses design for a hypothetical “standard user.” Real customers, however, live through change: stress, ageing, illness, parenthood, language barriers, and cognitive overload.
Accessibility is not about “others.” It is about your best customer on their hardest day. Design for All builds loyalty in moments of vulnerability. Compliance avoids penalties. Inclusive design builds trust, relevance, and long-term value.
What's the most significant missed opportunity in EAA implementation? What should businesses be doing that they can't see?
Rama: Standards exist but sit on shelves. The missed opportunity is translating words into actions. Accessibility should reach marketers, not just designers or policymakers. We talk to CEOs — but decisions flow through CFOs, CMOs, and COOs.
Start early, don't retrofit. Retrofitting costs more. If you design a building to last 50 years, what will accessibility look like in 50 years?
Companies skip the first section in the Double Diamond Model, namely the discovery phase. A hearing aid company designed a beautiful product that could isolate conversations in crowded rooms. But changing the battery required sticking a pin into a tiny hole. When asked why an 80-year-old with arthritis couldn't change it, the engineers said: "It wasn't in the brief." You need to design experiences, not isolated touchpoints. Don't bring in an expensive consultant, tick a box, and say "we've done accessibility." No, you haven't. Accessibility is baked in from the start — you should be able to smell it!
Iva: The biggest missed opportunity is treating accessibility as a legal checkbox rather than a strategic learning tool. EAA implementation should reveal friction, not hide it. Businesses should use it to identify where people struggle, even when standards are technically met. That gap is where innovation lives. The question should not be “Are we compliant?” but “Where do people still hesitate, struggle, or give up?” Design for All starts exactly there.
How should businesses measure the real value of Design for All beyond compliance metrics?
Rama: Focus on outcomes such as user outcomes, social outcomes, people and planet together. You can't integrate Design for All unless you tackle the barrier of KPIs. We suggest turning KPIs into KPAs: Key Performance Aspirations. Something positive and evolving, not a checklist. If your only metric is only compliance, you've already failed. The EAA doesn't measure emotional experience, dignity, or social belonging. Real integration is about joy and happiness, not checkboxes.
Iva: You don’t measure Design for All by counting features. You measure it by what stops happening. Fewer workarounds. Fewer apologies. Fewer calls for ‘basic’ tasks. Faster onboarding without explanation. A company has truly integrated inclusive design when inclusion is no longer a project or initiative, but a reflex embedded in everyday decision-making.
If you could add one thing to European businesses' accessibility toolkit, what would genuinely transform their approach?
Rama: My answer is always the same: the only thing any of us can change is yourself. Be the change you want to see. Live accessibility. When you take the words off the page and into people's lives, that's when the EAA comes alive.
More structured approaches include diversity sprints — short, repeatable processes where teams co-design with older people, people with disabilities, neurodiverse folks. Leadership accountability matters too. Unless leaders understand Design for All, you're sowing seeds on rocky soil.
Architects use a Post Occupancy Evaluation to check if buildings work for people living there. Apply the same to products and services. Nothing exposes superficial accessibility faster than genuine human feedback.
Iva: A mandatory exclusion review. Before launch, teams should ask one question: Who are we unintentionally excluding, and in which life situation? This shifts accessibility from obligation to responsibility. From compliance to care. From rules to leadership. Accessibility prevents harm. Design for All enables dignity, autonomy, and trust. Europe has learned to regulate harm. The next step is designing for human complexity.
Interview by Karolina Mendecka
Business Accessibility Forum Director