Accessibility: The Illustrated Guide: Making digital communication inclusive for everyone

A practical, illustrated guide for applying accessibility across social media, meetings, presentations, emails, and AI. Learn inclusive communication through engaging visuals and real-world examples.

Key Features

• Learn accessibility through a unique graphic novel format with real-world scenarios
• Practical tips for social media, meetings, presentations, emails, and AI tools
• Actionable guidance to create inclusive, accessible digital communication

Book Description

What do a neurodivergent tech pro panda, a blind owl professor, and a postpartum mommy kangaroo have to teach us about accessibility? More than you might think!

Accessibility: The Illustrated Guide makes inclusion approachable, practical, and unexpectedly fun, showing how everyday people can make small changes that lead to a big impact. Through witty hand-drawn illustrations featuring animal characters with diverse disabilities and access needs, this book explores accessibility across a variety of settings, including social media, meetings, presentations, and emails.

Written by two technology accessibility leaders with lived experience in the disability community, this book combines professional expertise with personal insight to make accessibility practical and approachable. Here, you'll learn how to write effective alt text, design inclusive slides, run accessible meetings, communicate clearly in digital and in-person environments, practice inclusive etiquette, use accessibility features, and use AI effectively.

Whether you want to better include people with disabilities, explore accessibility innovations, or create content, manage teams, teach, design, or develop, this book is for you. You don't need to be an accessibility expert to make a difference. You just need to care enough to begin.

What you will learn

• Use AI responsibly for accessible content creation
• Make social media, emails, documents, and presentations accessible
• Host meetings and events where everyone can participate
• Build accessibility into your everyday work
• Communicate respectfully with disabled people
• Apply inclusive communication etiquette and avoid common accessibility mistakes

Who this book is for

This book is for professionals, content creators, educators, marketers, and teams who want to make their communication more inclusive and accessible to their many colleagues, friends and family members with disabilities. Whether you work in corporate environments, digital media, education, or tech, this guide helps you apply accessibility best practices in everyday scenarios. It’s ideal for beginners looking to understand accessibility fundamentals, as well as professionals seeking practical ways to improve their workflows and create more inclusive experiences for diverse audiences.

Table of Contents

1. Everyone Enters Here
2. Meet the Characters
3. Sharing Social Media Content Everyone Can Enjoy
4. Holding Meetings Where Everyone Can Participate
5. Presenting So Everyone Can Follow Along
6. Writing So Everyone Can Read It
7. Using AI To Include Everyone
8. Now It's Your Turn

Nandita Gupta is a TEDx speaker, Product & Accessibility Leader, and author with over ten years of experience building AI products where inclusion is foundational, not an afterthought. Holding a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction, she combines deep technical grounding with a mission to ensure AI works for the 1.3 billion people with disabilities worldwide. Her intersectional lived experience drives her commitment to amplifying voices that are often left out of the room. Nandita serves on various non-profit boards, including Lime Connect, and has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune, and NASDAQ. She has spoken at Grace Hopper Celebration, UX Talks Tokyo, and M-Enabling, among others, and was inducted into the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame and named ADCOLOR in Tech 2024.

Rachel Grossman-Kahn is a leader in Accessibility and Inclusive Design at a Fortune Top 10 technology company in Seattle, WA. With over sixteen years of professional experience in the disability community, and as a person with a disability herself, she brings deep insight into designing for real people. Rachel previously spent a decade as a professional sign language interpreter for d/Deaf and DeafBlind communities, as well as a few years in the Walt Disney Animation Studios, shaping her ability to listen, observe, connect and communicate through visual art and design. She holds an MS in UX Design and a BA in Visual Arts, and serves on the Board of Directors for Lighthouse for the Blind, advancing inclusive experiences through design and advocacy.