What is a good way to explain the relationship between inclusive design, accessibility (in terms of WCAG2.0) and usability?

Question

I have always found that inclusive design to be at the crossroads between designing for the majority versus designing for everyone, which when you consider that UX design is about getting the right balance between business, technology and user objectives, makes it difficult to explain when it comes to accessibility and usability testing.

I suppose there is a current trend in the design thinking community that inclusive design brings overall benefit to users without taking too much away from being able to cater for specific user/user group needs. So with this view (or assumption) in mind, is it logical and sensible to explain inclusive design as creating the best possible balance between usability and accessibility?

Answer 1

The W3C has a good explanation which addresses some of your question:

https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/usable

This is their definition:

Inclusive design, universal design, and design for all involves designing products, such as websites, to be usable by everyone to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation. Inclusion addresses a broad range of issues including access to and quality of hardware, software, and Internet connectivity; computer literacy and skills; economic situation; education; geographic location; and language — as well as age and disability.

So you are not quite correct as you can see. Inclusive design is definitely not a balance between usability and accessibility, but there is overlap and synergy between Inclusive, Accessibility and Usability.