SUMMARY
Dr. Yao Ding shares common misconceptions about accessible design
“My team’s north star is to ensure Meta technologies are designed so that they can be used by people with disabilities just as effectively, easily and happily as people without disabilities,” says Dr. Yao Ding, an accessibility researcher at Meta. “That’s a high bar, but it's what people around the world expect from us.”
In addition to sharing more about his work in the interview below, Yao describes the heartwarming moment that convinced him to dedicate his career to accessibility and to shift the misconceptions people often have about it. As it turns out, these misconceptions — and the data he has to debunk them — underscore why accessible design is not only key to business success, but also essential to ensuring people with disabilities can fully participate, create and thrive in digital spaces.
Dr. Yao Ding is an accessibility researcher at Meta who earned his PhD while studying the intersection of disability and technology.
Tell us a little about yourself and your role at Meta.
I'm a user experience researcher (UXR) focused on accessibility. I’ve been at Meta for five years. My role as a UXR connects the team with people who have disabilities to ensure their voices are heard, amplified and influential in our product design.
Dr. Ding’s research is focused on ensuring those with disabilities—ranging from seeing and dexterity to speech and cognition challenges—can thrive in digital worlds.
Thank you, this is helpful grounding. How did you become interested in research and accessibility?
When I was doing my PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I studied human computer interaction (HCI) and the intersection of disability and technology. I worked closely with clinicians to support patients with communication disabilities, like helping them express themselves through speech-generating devices — tablet-like tools that convert typed text or selected images into spoken words.
In a trial for one of these devices, a little boy used it to say, “Mom, give me a hug.” That was the first time he had ever expressed a feeling on his own — not just answering “yes” or “no” to questions. His mom teared up. That was one of the moments when I realized that my work in accessibility can change lives and be very emotionally rewarding. I still feel this way.
What a touching story. You said you still feel this way — what is rewarding about working as a UXR focused on accessibility at Meta?
User research is an effective way to listen to and amplify the voices of people with disabilities. These perspectives offer invaluable insights that can drive meaningful innovation. Through research and by working closely with a team that genuinely cares about accessibility, we can make sure their needs are not only heard but also used directly to shape Meta technologies.
Can you share more about what this actually looks like in practice?
Put simply, I bring feedback from people with disabilities to our product teams. The feedback helps inform accessibility improvements where possible and can contribute to more inclusive product experiences over time.
Here’s an example: I spent a lot of time researching how to make the Facebook camera more accessible. The team saw some opportunities to make it easier for people with disabilities to take and share photos, which is a meaningful form of self-expression and making connections.
Researchers and product designers at Meta co-designed a wide range of accessible camera solutions directly with this community. One concept that consistently stood out was the ability to call a trusted friend, family member or volunteer to help them decide if the photo is appropriate or of good quality to share on Facebook.
That idea stuck. Years later, Meta partnered with Be My Eyes, an application that connects people with blindness and vision impairment with sighted volunteers, to make this idea come to life as a feature of our AI glasses, like Ray-Ban Meta. Wearers can ask Meta AI to call a volunteer to help them review photos, read an invitation or even navigate a subway station. It’s amazing to see ideas that originated in very early accessibility research come to life.
Why is it important for companies like Meta to prioritize accessibility?
Accessibility can play an important role in both mission alignment and business outcomes. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1.3 billion people around the world live with some form of disability. Considering accessibility helps us fulfill our mission to build the future of human connection and the technology that makes it possible.
Wow. That’s a staggering statistic.
I mention it because it may challenge a common misconception that accessibility is a “nice-to-have,” or that it only serves a small, niche group. In reality, it affects 1 in 6 people — a consideration worth keeping in mind as we work to fulfill our mission to build the future of human connection and the technology that makes it possible. This is what makes accessibility such an important priority and opportunity for Meta, given the company’s incredible scale.
What other misconceptions might people have about this audience?
One prevalent misconception is that people with disabilities have fundamentally different needs than people without disabilities, leading to the belief that a simplified or “lite” version of a product suffices for accessibility. Our research showed that creators with disabilities use these technologies to socialize, educate, build community and grow their businesses. They comment, update their status and share media, despite facing challenges in taking and sharing photos. This points to the value of designing a single, inclusive product experience that is usable and enjoyable for everyone.
Anything you’re working on or have worked on that you’re especially excited about?
One area that I’m passionate about is our work to make design systems more accessible across Meta technologies. To help tackle this, I’ve been leading research to understand what accessible design should look like at the component level. For example, through user research, we explored ways to improve video player accessibility and design better interaction patterns for paragraphs with multiple inline links.
Accessibility improvements to design systems not only enhance the user experience for those with disabilities, they have also, in some cases, led to positive impact on engagement metrics for all users.
I also co-led a project focused on avatar representation for people with disabilities. My team and I analyzed the needs of people who are blind, deaf or use wheelchairs or prosthetics to inform the visual and behavioral design of avatars that best represent them. One of the main questions we focused on answering was: How do people with different types of disabilities want to be represented, if at all, in avatars?
What did you learn?
Through an online survey and series of one-on-one interviews, we learned that this population not only finds value in avatars and yearns for choice and variety, but wants their avatars to show their assistive technologies and disabilities. I’m proud that Meta is investing in the design of disability characteristics and assistive technologies in avatars, offering a range of options and enabling people to customize their avatars to their unique preferences. Now on Facebook, a person with a hearing device can choose from multiple designs when creating their avatar.
Facebook enables people who use a hearing device to create an avatar with a similar device, resulting in a design that feels more authentic and personal.
What is your hope or vision for accessibility at Meta?
I’m excited about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and accessibility, and the pivotal role companies like Meta can play. Disability happens when there's a mismatch between a person's abilities and the world around them. AI is already rapidly closing that gap.
In my conversations with people with disabilities, I see this happening in real time. People with blindness and low vision are using computer vision to understand their surroundings. People with physical disabilities are using natural language to control their devices and complete increasingly complex tasks. And what's remarkable is that they are doing this with the same general purpose AI tools that anyone can use, including Meta AI, turning everyday AI into assistive technology through individual ingenuity.
As a leader in AI, Meta has an incredible opportunity here. By understanding how people with disabilities are already using AI — what they value, where they struggle, what they wish these tools could do — we are building products that help everyone be more independent, more connected and more creative, regardless of their abilities. That's the future I'm working toward.
Want to read more about accessibility design? In this story, product designer Caterina F. shares the role of design systems in creating accessible digital experiences.
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