Building standards for everyone, with everyone
The Guidelines for Accessibility and Inclusion in Standards Development is a practical resource to help Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) create more welcoming, equitable, and accessible processes especially for D/deaf and D/disabled people. It identifies common participation barriers and offers actions based on lived and living experience, inclusive design, and real-world examples. Flexible and adaptable to diverse contexts, the guidelines serve as a reflective and practical tool to pinpoint improvements, spark dialogue, and guide change.
Who are the Guidelines for?
Members of Standards Developments Organisations, including:
- Project managers and staff who coordinate technical committees;
- Committee chairs and facilitators;
- Membership and recruitment teams;
- Accessibility and inclusion staff;
- Editorial and publication teams;
- Anyone involved in shaping how standards are developed and determining who gets to participate.
How were these Guidelines created?
These guidelines were started in 2024 and are grounded in both research and lived experience. They continue to evolve through:
- Feedback from current and former members of technical committees and SDOs, particularly those with lived experiences of D/deafess and D/disability;
- Insights from related projects at the Inclusive Design Research Centre, including Review of the Review;
- Application of inclusive design principles and practices developed at the IDRC;
- Findings from a jurisdictional scan of SDO processes internationally;
- Co-design sessions with members of D/deaf and D/disabled communities;
- Real world use by standards development technical committees and SDOs.
How to use the Guidelines
The guidelines are structured around 5 core stages, covering 18 processes or topic areas. Each stage represents a key part of the standards development process, while each process or topic area outlines common barriers along with practical actions to improve accessibility and inclusion.
You can use the guidelines in the following two ways:
Browse by Standards Development Processes
Explore by stages and processes
Browse by standards development process and select a stage first, then choose a process within that stage. For each process, you’ll find practical solutions to make the standards development process more inclusive, along with the specific barriers these solutions can help address.
Browse by Barriers
Visit the barriers library to see a list of barriers faced by Standards Development Organizations, organized by the 5 core stages covering 18 processes or topic areas. From there, you can select a specific barrier and explore the actions that can help resolve it.
Find what you need
Use the search bar to find suggestions for improving your standards development process or to solve a barrier in your process. For example, try searching for ‘meeting’ or ‘hybrid’ to find suggestions for improving your hybrid meetings.