Unboxing Accessibility Campaign 2026
Quick links
- Meet this year's advocates
- Why accessible products matter
- The real cost of inaccessible packaging
- My workarounds - What I do when I can't open or use something
- Storage containers
- Shampoo and conditioner packaging – usage and recycling
- Toilet cleaning packaging
- Spray bottle packaging
- Recycling cleaning product packaging
- Everyday products that challenge me
Explore
The Unboxing Accessibility Campaign shares the real, lived experiences of people using everyday products and packaging while living with disability. Led by the Accessible Product Design Alliance, the campaign shines a light on the challenges people face every day and gives product and packaging designers, technologists and manufacturers practical insights to create better, more inclusive solutions.
This year, our advocates go beyond opening packaging to explore how everyday products are used, stored and recycled, from food storage and drink bottles to cleaning products, personal care and medical devices. They also share the workarounds they rely on, and what good design looks like to them.
Meet our advocates – Meet our 2026 advocates: Ashley, Nichole, Janet, Laura, Anne, Sandi, Chun and Tommy share their challenges and insights into product accessibility. Whether you’re living with disability or designing for people who are, there’s something here for you. Together, we can push for a more inclusive future.
Meet This Year’s Advocates: Introducing our consumers and their conditions:
- Ashley living with multiple arthritis conditions
- Nichole living with essential tremor
- Chun living with stroke
- Janet living with osteoarthritis
- Anne living with MS and osteoarthritis
- Laura living with cerebral palsy and psychosocial disability
- Tommy living with stroke
- Sandi living with Young Onset Parkinson’s disease.
For the Campaign, they share their lived experiences of everyday products and packaging, helping designers and industry understand what needs to change.
Why accessible products matter
Our advocates share what accessible products and packaging mean to them: independence, belonging and not having to ask for help with everyday tasks. Their stories show how inaccessible design costs time, affects mental wellbeing and can even mean going without food, and why products that work for everyone matter.
The real cost of inaccessible packaging
Our advocates share how hard-to-open packaging affects far more than their time. Their stories show how frustration increases pain and tremors, how food can go uneaten, and the emotional toll of not being able to do everyday tasks independently, a reminder that the problem lies in the design, not the person.
My workarounds – What I do when I can’t open or use something
Our advocates share the knives, scissors, aids and helping hands they rely on when everyday packaging won’t open. Their stories show the safety risks, stress and lost independence behind every workaround, and why products that can’t be opened often aren’t bought again.
Storage containers – Exploring the user experience
Our advocates explore food storage containers, from clip-lock and push-down lids to glass, plastic and metal. Their stories show there’s no one container that works for everyone yet, but factors like small tabs and the fear of dropping glass can have an impact.
Shampoo and conditioner packaging – Exploring the user experience of usage and recycling
Our advocates Ashley, Nichole, Janet and Tommy explore shampoo and conditioner packaging. Their stories show how wet hands, flip-top caps and tiny print make a daily routine harder, and why hard-to-remove caps often send bottles to the bin instead of recycling.
Toilet cleaner packaging – Exploring the user experience
Our advocates Ashley, Sandi and Janet explore child-resistant toilet cleaner packaging. Their stories show how stiff push-and-turn caps, angled necks and bottles without handles make a simple cleaning task harder, and how caps left loosely closed create real safety risks. Child-resistant packaging should keep children safe while still letting adults living with disability open and close it on their own.
Spray bottle packaging –Exploring the user experience
Our advocates Ashley, Nichole, Sandi and Janet explore spray bottle packaging. Their stories show how stiff nozzles, small triggers and hard-to-read on and off markings can turn a simple cleaning task into a daily challenge, and how one well-designed bottle can earn loyalty. We hope packaging designers and technologists can see how small changes to nozzle shape, trigger size and clear markings can make these products easier for everyone to use.
Recycling cleaning product packaging – Exploring the user experience
Our advocates Anne, Ashley, Janet, Nichole, Sandi and Tommy explore the recycling instructions on cleaning product packaging. Their stories show how removing sleeves, twisting off triggers, crushing bottles and reading small print can turn recycling into a painful, multi-step task, so packaging often ends up in the bin.
Everyday products that challenge me
Our advocates share the everyday products they struggle with most, from cans and twist-top jars to medication bottles and sealed packs. Their stories show how hard-to-open packaging leads to risky workarounds, like knives and teeth, and can even shape the products and choices people make.
More videos coming soon!