As people that work on the Web, we are surrounded by technology—often very new, very fast, very shiny, very expensive technology. Immersed in this sea of "latest and greatest" gadgets, it’s easy to be lulled into believing that our experience of the web is universal. It’s not.

If headlines are to be believed, this is the era of the smartphone, the tablet, wearables, and what have you. But the reality is that there are millions of people who access the web on devices that aren’t nearly that sexy. Accessing your bank balance, obtaining healthcare information, and booking travel should not require you to rock the latest iDevice.

Design is about solving problems. Yet, even when we are tasked with addressing a universal need, we tend to more easily relate to the needs of people who are more like us. It’s natural and completely understandable; it’s easy empathy. It’s a good place to start, but we need to push ourselves to learn about and empathize with people who have different needs, experiences, and capabilities.

We should strive toward the egalitarian ideal of equal opportunity, while also accepting that it does not guarantee equal experience. And that’s okay. Not everyone needs to have an identical experience, as long as the experience they do have is a good one.