Accessibility and Inclusive Visualization

Overview

Use this skill when a visualization must be understandable by more people, in more contexts, with more assistive needs. Accessibility is not a post-processing step. It shapes chart selection, color, labeling, interaction, fallback text, and export strategy.

Default assumption: every important visualization should have a non-visual path to the key insight, whether through surrounding text, direct labels, data tables, or formal text alternatives.

Working Pattern

1. Identify whether the chart is exploratory, explanatory, interactive, or exported.
2. Decide which information must remain available without hover, color discrimination, pointer precision, expanded panels, private persisted state, permission-gated capabilities, or a strong connection.
3. If the story uses generated imagery, illustration, WebGL, particles, 3D, maps, scrollytelling, parallax, or animation, separate what the asset shows from what the data proves.
4. If Codex image generation was used for a layout, figure, page-integration, asset, or key-frame concept, verify that the large-screen and mobile concept images were shown with concise plan and interaction bullets, the user approved the generated design set before project changes or implementation code began, and the semantic design contract from ../../references/foundations/meaning-preserving-visual-design-workflow.md exists: the accessible path must preserve the same claim, caveat, source context, evidence hierarchy, locked layout elements, mobile continuation, and interaction meaning as the visual design.
5. If the view is a UML-like, ERD, state machine, workflow, dependency, or architecture diagram, preserve a text outline of nodes, groups, relationships, and selected paths; use ../uml-and-software-architecture-visualization/SKILL.md for diagram-specific semantics.
6. Use ../../references/foundations/mobile-first-responsive-visualization.md to verify touch targets, drag alternatives, keyboard-open visual viewport behavior, main-visualization visibility, spotty-connection states, and fallbacks for AR, camera, motion, vibration, notifications, and geolocation.
7. Provide direct labels, strong contrast, redundant encodings, keyboard paths, reduced-motion alternatives, accessible disclosure controls, and text alternatives.
8. For interactive visualizations, check that shared URLs, saved views, refresh, and back/forward navigation preserve the same accessible state summaries as the visual surface.
9. Test both the chart or diagram and the surrounding narrative.