Intro

World Black Monitor Day is a self-initiated accessibility awareness initiative designed to build empathy for blind and visually impaired users among designers and developers.

Why I created this

While working on enterprise and public-sector applications, I repeatedly encountered accessibility issues being treated as a checklist rather than a lived experience.

I wanted to create a simple but impactful way for teams to experience the cognitive and emotional friction faced by blind users when navigating digital products.

The Concept

The idea behind World Black Monitor Day is simple:

Participants are encouraged to turn off their monitors or use screen readers while completing everyday digital tasks—mirroring how blind users interact with software.

• Use screen readers such as NVDA

• Navigate common workflows without visual cues

• Experience real-world accessibility barriers firsthand

UX Principles Behind the Initiative

The initiative is grounded in core UX principles:

• Empathy through experience, not instruction

• Accessibility as usability, not compliance

• Reducing cognitive load for non-visual users

• Designing beyond visual affordances

Reflection

World Black Monitor Day reinforced my belief that accessibility cannot be designed effectively without empathy.

Experiencing friction firsthand changes how teams think, prioritize, and design—far more than guidelines alone ever could.

• Shared internally

• Discussed with peers

• Used in informal sessions