Switch Access Design

Designing for users who navigate interfaces using one or two physical switches.

stellae.design

Accessibility

Switch access design ensures interfaces are usable by people who operate their devices through adaptive switches — physical buttons, sip-and-puff devices, or head-tracking systems that map to one or two inputs. These users typically navigate via auto-scanning (the system highlights elements sequentially) or step-scanning (one switch moves focus, another activates). This is one of the slowest input methods, making efficiency paramount. WCAG 2.1 SC 2.1.1 (Keyboard, Level A) and SC 2.4.3 (Focus Order, Level A) are foundational, but designing for switch access goes beyond keyboard compliance — it requires minimizing the number of interactions needed to complete tasks.

Why It Matters

Switch access enables people with severe motor disabilities to operate digital devices using one or more switches — physical buttons, sip-and-puff devices, head movements, or eye blinks — instead of a keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen. These users navigate interfaces by scanning through interactive elements sequentially or by group, making every unnecessary interaction a significant time and energy cost. Designing for switch access is essential for ensuring that digital products are truly usable by people across the full spectrum of motor ability.

Real-World Examples

iOS Switch Control with Item Scanning

Apple's iOS Switch Control allows users to navigate their entire device using one or two external switches, scanning through elements individually or by group. The system highlights each interactive element sequentially with a visible cursor, and users activate their switch to select the highlighted item. This built-in accessibility feature means any app that follows standard iOS accessibility guidelines automatically supports switch access.

Xbox Adaptive Controller Integration

Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller connects to a wide range of external switches, buttons, and joysticks, allowing gamers with motor disabilities to create custom control setups. Games that support controller remapping and simplified input modes become fully accessible to switch users through this hardware. The controller demonstrated that switch access design can extend to complex interactive experiences beyond basic productivity software.

Counter-example

Image Carousel with Only Swipe Navigation

A shopping app implements product image galleries as swipe-only carousels with no alternative navigation method — no arrow buttons, no thumbnail strip, and no keyboard support. Switch access users cannot perform swipe gestures and have no way to browse product images, losing access to critical purchasing information. The single-interaction-method design excludes an entire category of input devices from a core product function.

Role-Specific Guidance

Common Mistakes

• The most critical mistake is assuming keyboard accessibility equals switch accessibility — while related, switch users face additional constraints like sequential scanning speed and fatigue from repeated activations that keyboard users do not. Teams frequently create pages with dozens of interactive elements in flat tab order, forcing switch users to scan through every single item to reach content near the bottom of the page. Another common error is implementing custom focus management with JavaScript that breaks the native scanning order, causing switch users to lose their position or get trapped in focus loops.