Most persona sets have 4-6 profiles built from demographics and goals. Disability rarely makes the cut. When it does, it gets bolted on as a separate “accessibility persona” that the team references once and forgets.
The fix isn’t a special persona. It’s building disability into the ones you already have.
Think in a spectrum, not a category.
Microsoft’s Persona Spectrum framework looks at interaction needs across permanent, temporary, and situational scenarios. A permanently blind user, someone temporarily blind after eye surgery, and someone situationally unable to look at their screen while driving all share the same need: a non-visual way to get information.
Design for the spectrum, and you serve all three. Design only for the “permanent” case in a separate persona, and you miss the other two.
Add depth, not a diagnosis.
Don’t reduce a persona to “blind user.” Give them the same goals, frustrations, and technical comfort level as your other personas. A persona who happens to be blind deserves the same depth as one who happens to drive a minivan.
Weave it into personas you already have.
Skip the new persona. Add context to existing ones. Does your busy marketing manager have low vision that worsens with screen fatigue? Does your power user rely on keyboard shortcuts because of wrist pain? Disability becomes part of who they are, not a layer on top.
Disability isn’t a separate persona. It’s a spectrum running through the ones you already have.
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