The “Invisible” Barriers: Key Learnings from Our Digital Accessibility & Neuro-Equity Summit
- Divergent Thinking
- Jul 2
- 6 min read
Reflecting on our recent session with the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT), one thing feels impossible to ignore: the digital workplace is still too often being designed for a mythical “standard user”.
That standard user is assumed to process information quickly, navigate clutter without strain, decode ambiguous interfaces easily, and adapt to whatever system is put in front of them. In reality, many people do not work that way. And when digital tools are built around that narrow assumption, a huge amount of talent gets filtered out before organisations even realise it was there.
That was the heart of our conversation on 28 October 2025, where I joined Mike Hess, Elliott Natale and James Warnken to explore not just digital accessibility, but neuro-equity. What I appreciated most about the session was that we moved beyond the technical “how-to” and into the deeper question of what digital exclusion actually means for talent, culture and fairness.
As the founder of Divergent Thinking, I left that conversation feeling even more convinced that digital inclusion is not a side issue. It is part of how organisations decide who gets to belong, who gets to contribute and who quietly gets left behind.
1. Visual accessibility and cognitive accessibility are not the same thing
One of the most important ideas in the session was the difference between physical access and cognitive access.
Physical accessibility usually gets more attention. It focuses on whether a platform works with screen readers, whether contrast is sufficient, whether visual impairments have been properly considered. All of that matters.
But cognitive accessibility is different.
It asks whether the information itself can be processed without overload.
That includes things like:
cluttered layouts
flashing elements
unclear structure
unpredictable navigation
too many competing demands on attention
dense text with poor hierarchy
interfaces that assume one narrow style of processing
This matters hugely for autistic people, dyslexic people, people with ADHD, people with processing differences, and many others whose main challenge is not seeing the interface, but making sense of it without hitting a wall of cognitive friction.
A website or portal can technically pass accessibility checks and still be deeply difficult to use.
That is the invisible barrier.
It is one reason I keep arguing that accessibility has to move beyond compliance language. If a system is visually passable but cognitively hostile, then it is still excluding people.
2. Accessibility shapes hiring long before culture does
Another major takeaway was that accessibility is not just a feature of good design. It is a feature of hiring culture.
If your recruitment portal is inaccessible, your culture has already spoken before anyone meets a hiring manager.
That is especially true for neurodivergent talent.
A candidate with a spiky profile may never make it through a process if:
the application system is confusing
the wording is vague
the portal times out too quickly
the layout is chaotic
too much information is presented at once
instructions are unclear
unnecessary friction is built into every stage
In that situation, the organisation may assume it has an attraction problem, a pipeline problem or a skills shortage. In reality, it may have a design problem.
That is why I believe accessibility needs to be built in from the start, not bolted on at the end. If you make a system easier for someone with a visual processing difference, slower processing speed or attentional challenges to use, you do not only help a niche group. You usually make the system better for everyone.
Clearer systems are not a concession. They are good design.
This is also why so much of our work at Divergent Thinking focuses on barriers before behaviour. Too many organisations interpret drop-off, silence or non-completion as candidate weakness when it is often simply friction doing its job.
3. Lived experience will tell you what the checklist never will
The strongest moments in the session did not come from technical manuals. They came from lived experience.
That matters because people often design from assumptions. They imagine what users need instead of involving the people who actually experience the barriers. The result is often well-intentioned but shallow.
Lived experience reveals things that formal compliance frameworks can miss:
the exhaustion of processing clutter
the anxiety created by inconsistent navigation
the strain of synchronous communication for someone with processing lag
the cognitive cost of unclear digital expectations
the way sensory and attentional load build over time
These are not abstract issues. They shape whether someone can function, contribute and stay engaged.
That is why I think one of the most practical shifts organisations can make is moving from assumption-led design to experience-led design.
In the session, we talked about practical strategies like:
more asynchronous communication
simpler, calmer digital environments
clearer structure
reduced reliance on instant response culture
digital systems that respect processing differences instead of penalising them
Those changes are not dramatic. But they change the experience of work in a very real way.
Culture matters more than compliance
One of the clearest themes across the conversation was that accessibility should not be treated as a legal minimum or an isolated technical exercise.
If accessibility is only a tick-box, people will do the least they can.
If accessibility is part of culture, people start asking better questions:
Who is this design excluding?
What assumptions are built into this platform?
What does ease actually look like for different minds?
Are we designing for belonging, or just avoiding criticism?
That is where neuro-equity becomes useful language.
Because neuro-equity is not simply about whether neurodivergent people are present. It is about whether the structures around them are fair enough to let them contribute fully. And in the modern workplace, digital systems are a huge part of that structure.
You cannot claim inclusion while building digital environments that repeatedly trigger overwhelm, confusion or exclusion.
Why this matters even more in 2026
We are well past the point where organisations can afford to ignore this.
Digital work is no longer a side channel. It is the workplace.
Hiring happens through digital systems.
Onboarding happens through digital systems.
Collaboration happens through digital systems.
Learning, reporting, networking, communication and performance all run through digital systems.
So if those systems are badly designed, exclusion is no longer occasional. It becomes embedded.
That is why I see this work as increasingly urgent. We are not talking about a marginal issue affecting a tiny group. We are talking about the basic usability of work for a significant proportion of the population.
And when organisations ignore that, the cost is not only ethical. It is strategic.
They lose:
talent
engagement
clarity
productivity
trust
retention
In other words, poor digital accessibility is not just a UX problem. It is a workforce problem.
The goal is not to fix the person
This is the shift I most want organisations to make.
Too many conversations still begin from the assumption that the person is the problem. The employee is too slow, too overwhelmed, too distracted, too anxious, too difficult to onboard, too inconsistent.
But often the better question is:
what is the system demanding, and who was it built for?
That is the point of neuro-equity.
The goal is not to fix the person so they can survive bad design more quietly.
The goal is to design technology, communication and workplaces in ways that allow more people to function well.
That is a very different ambition.
And it is where I think the future of inclusion really sits.
Final reflection
What stayed with me most after the BIT session was how many barriers are still hiding in plain sight.
Not dramatic barriers. Not always visible ones. But invisible barriers created by clutter, ambiguity, poor structure, bad assumptions and a narrow idea of who the user is supposed to be.
Those barriers matter because they shape access to opportunity long before organisations start talking about belonging.
If there is one thing I would want leaders to take from that summit, it is this:
Digital accessibility is not only about whether someone can technically enter the system. It is about whether the system is designed in a way that lets them think, process and participate without unnecessary harm.
That is the difference between compliance and inclusion.
And that difference is where the real work begins.
To explore more of my work as the founder of Divergent Thinking, visit the blog or learn more about workplace needs assessments.
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