David Vogel
Executive Experience Director
6 Mar 2026, 7 minutes
David Vogel
Executive Experience Director
6 Mar 2026, 7 minutes
Reader's note
This is part 2 of a two-part series that explores why accessibility must evolve to embrace neurodiversity, and how emerging technologies are making truly adaptive design possible for the first time. Part 1 here.
Part 2
In part 1, we explored why accessibility must expand to include neurodiversity, challenged the myth of the “normal user,” and made the case that designing for cognitive variability benefits everyone.
We established that access is a systemic responsibility, and that roughly 15 to 20 per cent of the population experiences the world through neurodiverse cognitive patterns. Understanding why neuro-inclusive design matters is only half the equation. The other half is how it is done, and that is where the technical dimension becomes decisive.
This article is for designers, developers, and technologists who are building the systems that shape how people interact with the world. We will examine how emerging technologies are fundamentally changing what is possible in design, why this requires us to think systemically rather than only at the interface level, and what a framework for building adaptive, neuro-inclusive systems looks like in practice.
As hinted at in part 1 of this article, something profound is happening in technology right now, and it changes how we think about both design and access.
For decades, we have worked with deterministic systems. You click a button and a predictable outcome follows. Interfaces are fixed. Interactions are scripted. Navigation follows predetermined paths. Users adapt to the system because the system cannot adapt to them.
We are now entering an era of probabilistic systems. AI does not follow predetermined paths. It infers, predicts, and adapts based on patterns in data. This is a structural architectural shift rather than a feature-level enhancement, and it is driven by multiple converging technological developments.
Traditional systems follow fixed paths. Probabilistic systems can adapt and branch based on context and data
Large language models, computer vision, and other AI systems can now interpret context, infer intent, and generate adaptive responses in real time. This allows systems to adjust to individual needs without requiring explicit configuration or manual accommodation requests.
AR, VR, spatial computing, IoT sensors, and edge processing are shifting digital interaction from a flat screen-based experience to a spatial layer woven into physical environments. Computing is moving closer to the user, embedded in context and responsive to real-world conditions. Digital becomes pervasive.
We now have access to vast datasets capturing human behaviour, accessibility needs, and interaction patterns at scale. At the same time, the technical and organisational friction of connecting systems, described by Sangeet Paul Choudary as “coordination tax,” is falling. APIs, microservices, and interoperability standards are making it cheaper and faster to coordinate across systems using agentic AI.
As a result of these shifts, design is moving down the stack, from the interface layer into the service, data and system layer. It is no longer sufficient to think only about the interface. If your data models do not encode accessibility parameters, if your architecture does not support adaptive rendering, and if your APIs do not expose the right data dimensions for personalisation, inclusive experiences cannot emerge at the surface. Designers and technologists must therefore think systemically. You are no longer only designing screens. You are designing the substrates on which adaptive experiences are built (and in the future, dynamically generated).
If we are going to build adaptive systems that shape how people interact with the world, we must view design through the lens of systems thinking. Systems thinking embraces the complexity of interconnected and dynamic systems and proposes new ways of designing and building for them. In our design methodology, we must adopt the core principles of system design.
Every system requires a clear purpose and defined constraints. Without purpose, systems drift. Without constraints, they fragment. For accessible systems, this means clear definitions of success, both for the user and the business, and a specific domain within which the solution should create value. Constraints include existing accessibility standards like WGAC, governance frameworks, recovery and safety guarantees.
Static systems are brittle. User needs change. Contexts shift. Technologies evolve.
Systems must therefore be designed for continuous evolution without systemic breakage. Variability should be assumed rather than accommodated. Constant evaluation should be built in.
Failure is standard in complex systems. The key design question is how visible those failures are and how safely systems recover. For accessibility, this means systems must detect struggle, diagnose support needs, and offer recovery pathways without requiring users to self-identify as needing help.
As technological streams converge, the foundations of digital systems are shifting from fixed interactions to adaptive ones
The most important conceptual shift is moving from “normal users plus edge cases” to “designing for variability”. This reframes diversity from exception to baseline. Variability becomes the permanent condition for which systems are designed.
In practice, this requires:
Interfaces and physical-digital experiences must remain usable under reduced vision, reduced dexterity, divided attention, and stress.
Design principles:
Example: A form that auto-saves progress, supports voice input, provides clear non-punitive error feedback, and allows completion across sessions.
Example: Digital signage that adapts content to the physical dimensions and character of the space and the number and types of users in it.
Journeys must remain completable even when steps are slowed, repeated, skipped, or assisted.
Design principles:
Example: A checkout that supports delayed completion, multiple payment methods, live assistance, and uninterrupted recovery after failure.
Example: An event journey that considers rich personas with both functional needs and diverse neurological profiles.
This layer governs how decisions are made and conflicts are resolved. It determines whether adaptive experiences are possible at all.
Design principles:
Example: A design system where every component carries metadata for cognitive load, sensory demand, and adaptability.
Example: A technology framework that balances structured ontologies with agentic autonomy to update systems in real time.
This layer governs how humans collaborate with systems over time.
Design principles:
Example: A design platform that surfaces real-time accessibility warnings and learns from human overrides. Like Figma with built-in accessibility advice.
Example: An AI agent that advises event managers or technical staff before an event and/or in real time about updated accessibility requirements.
This layer defines accountability, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Design principles:
Example: A governance dashboard tracking exclusion patterns, assigning remediation ownership, and measuring long-term impact.
Example: A CX framework that unifies business metrics and usability metrics to track the business impact of improved access.
Adaptive systems are built across multiple layers, not at the interface alone
If you are a designer or technologist, the shift we are discussing here has direct, and far reaching implications for your work. We are at the start of this, but the future arrives faster and faster so it makes sense to start considering some of these implications:
The future of experience should not be fragile. It should not require constant human intervention to accommodate difference. It should not exclude by default and include only as an afterthought. The future should be built on flexible, robust frameworks that allow all humans to participate - especially since a lot of the hard work of design is moving towards lower levels of the stack: architectural models, design systems, service design, ontology design. AI systems will increasingly be responsible for what traditionally been the focus of designers: the surface area, and it will do so in real time, adaptive to the needs of individuals and groups.
We are going to be talking about both the need for adaptive and inclusive design, and the implications at SXSW in Austin, TX in March 2026. We’d love to see you there!
Contact us and let's get started