Micro-Frictions: The small, everyday barriers that quietly drain energy at work

Before anything else, let me be clear.

When I talk about accessibility at work, I am not talking only about disability. I am talking about everyone.

Every one of us will have accessibility or accommodation needs at some point in our working lives. Sometimes it is temporary. Sometimes it is permanent. Often it is situational.

• Recovering from an injury.

• Personal trauma.

• A bad day where concentration is hard.

• Leaving your reading glasses at home.

• An ear infection that turns meetings into noise.

• Arthritis, fatigue, or simply ageing.

Accessibility is not about “them”. It is about us.

Micro-frictions are where accessibility really lives

Most workplace barriers are not dramatic. They are small, ordinary, and repeated every day.

I call them micro-frictions.

• A lift with a glossy touch screen you cannot read.

• A meeting with no agenda, no notes, and ten people talking at once.

• An open-plan office that never stops humming.

• A system that times out if you read slowly.

• A meeting room with poor signage that assumes perfect vision.

Each one feels minor. None feel worth raising. But stacked together, they drain energy and confidence. They turn capable people into people who look disengaged or distracted.

That is not a people problem. It is a design problem.

Accessibility starts with awareness, not intent

Most people are not trying to make someone’s workday harder. In my experience, exclusion usually comes from lack of awareness, not malicious intent.

Accessibility is about learning to look at your environment through a different lens.

Pause and ask:

• Would someone with poor eyesight be able to find this meeting room?

• This open-plan space is noisy. Does it make it harder for someone with hearing difficulties to do their best work?

• That person always wears headphones. Is that rude, or is it how they stay focused in an overwhelming environment?

Those questions are not about blame. They are about curiosity.

And curiosity is where better design begins.

Accessibility is culture, not compliance

Accessibility is not just ramps, captions, or policies. It is about whether people feel safe and comfortable enough to work in the way they need to.

A healthy accessibility culture allows people to:

• Ask for what they need without fear of judgement.

• Work differently without being labelled difficult or disengaged.

• Trust that small adjustments are normal, not exceptional.

When people feel safe, micro-frictions get surfaced early. When they do not, people stay quiet and adapt at their own expense.

Why I built an accessibility awareness course

I built my accessibility awareness course because I kept seeing the same pattern. People cared, but they did not know what to look for.

Accessibility felt technical, legal, or intimidating. So it was pushed aside or left to specialists.

The course is about awareness. About noticing the small things that quietly exclude people. About understanding how everyday choices in communication, design, and behaviour shape workplace experience.

I also tried to practise what I teach.

• The course uses simple on-screen graphics.

• Large, clear fonts with strong contrast.

• Audio narration aligned to visuals.

• Captions on every video.

• Downloadable transcripts.

• Plain-English lesson descriptions.

• An audio-only option for those who prefer to listen.

Nothing fancy. Just fewer micro-frictions.

I also avoided pass marks. Instead of testing people, I focus on reflection. Knowledge checks exist to support learning, not to block progress.

The honest truth about inclusive design

You cannot remove every micro-friction for every person.

Someone will always experience a barrier you did not anticipate. That does not mean accessibility has failed. It means accessibility is ongoing work.

What matters is whether feedback is welcomed and acted on. I actively invite it from people who take the course, and I take it seriously. That is how accessibility improves in practice.

A simple test for any workplace

Ask yourself this:

Can people do what they need to do here without constantly stepping over tiny barriers?

If the answer is no, start there.

Accessibility is not a side project.

It is not a favour.

And it is not just about disability.

It is about awareness, culture, and removing micro-frictions so work actually works, for everyone, on good days and bad ones.

That is how accessibility becomes real.

💥 Small change. Big impact

To learn more about our Accessibility Awareness course and our other accessibility awareness services, ad "I want to learn" in the comments, and we'll reach out to have a chat about the accessibility initiatives at your workplace.