Accessibility is more than a legal requirement. It is a matter of ethics, inclusion, and long-term business success. Despite increased awareness and regulation, digital barriers continue to affect millions. This article examines the importance of accessibility, where it still falls short, and how initiatives like the European Accessibility Act aim to close the gap.
Part 1 of 2: Why Accessibility Thinking and Empathy Matter
Intro Paragraph:
In a world where much of daily life is moving online - from shopping and banking to healthcare and work - the importance of accessible digital experiences has become undeniable, especially during the COVID lockdowns, when the consequences of inaccessibility were felt more sharply than ever. Yet for millions of people with disabilities, these products still present barriers that exclude rather than empower. Accessibility is too often treated as a low priority, rather than a core part of user experience and responsible design. But that mindset is beginning to shift. With evolving laws, rising awareness, and a growing recognition of the business and social value of inclusion, accessibility is no longer optional. It’s a human-centered design challenge that demands intention, empathy, and accountability.
The Need for Genuinely Inclusive Digital Experiences
As a UX & Accessibility Lead, I always begin with user-centered design focusing on the user, their needs, pain points, and challenges, and finding the simplest, most enjoyable path to help them reach their goals. Like many UX professionals, I believe that when we design with the user’s well-being in mind, the business benefits naturally follow.
When it comes to accessible digital products, things get a bit more complex. Compliance with accessibility legislation is a crucial aspect of modern product development, yet it is often overlooked or excluded from standard agile processes. The same applies to the needs of users with disabilities. They are frequently ignored, deprioritized, or simply left out of the conversation. However, a new European law coming into effect at the end of June 2025 is about to change that. It will fundamentally shift how many teams approach product development - for the better.
Yet despite these upcoming changes, millions of users still face unnecessary barriers - barriers that could and should be avoided. As accessibility is a discipline within UX that requires coordinated team effort, combined with complex product requirements and technologies, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It must account for a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, cognitive, motor, and speech impairments. This is exactly where the WCAG guidelines come into play: they aim to reduce barriers across these categories by ensuring that digital products are usable by people with diverse access needs.
Do any of these statements sound familiar to you?
“Accessibility just isn’t a priority right now.”
“Let’s fix it later, after launch.”
“We don’t have any users with disabilities.”
“It’s just too expensive.”
What stood out to me most during my career was how often product managers, product owners, and leaders sidestepped the topic of accessibility. It was simply seen as a secondary concern - something no one considered important, despite clear statistical and demographic evidence of the need.
What many businesses overlook - beyond the legal obligations and risks such as lawsuits, fines, public sector procurement requirements, and evolving regulations like WCAG - is the actual business value accessibility delivers:
- Reach a larger market: Over 1 billion people globally live with a disability (~16% of the population) and this user group is growing as we are a rapidly aging population
- Reduce legal risk: Meet standards like WCAG, ADA, and EN 301 549 and avoid costly lawsuits
- Improve brand reputation and customer loyalty: Show commitment to social responsibility
- Boost SEO and usability: Accessible design benefits all users
- Increase customer satisfaction and NPS
- Lower long-term development costs: Retrofitting is far more expensive than designing accessibly from the start
With the continuous evolution and expansion of WCAG requirements, it has become essential to consider a thoughtful and systematic integration of accessibility into digital product development, and to place greater focus on simplicity and the effective support of assistive technologies.
The Digital Divide: Who Gets Left Behind?
As media and political narratives are increasingly shaped by a small group of privileged individuals, we are witnessing the erosion of the democratic value and potential of digital products. Human-centered and equity-focused issues like accessibility risk being overshadowed by profit-driven priorities. For disabled users, this kind of exclusion has been a reality since the early days of app development. The lack of accessibility in digital applications, especially in the public sector e.g., ticketing machines and even medical services, does not just affect online experiences, it also extends into the workforce, limiting career opportunities for people with disabilities.
For millions of disabled users, simply completing everyday tasks online can be a huge struggle. A digital divide has persisted for years, and the ongoing failure to address accessibility has resulted in systemic discrimination. According to the UN, workforce exclusion rates for people with disabilities in industrialized countries range from 50% to 70% - a staggering statistic that reflects the broader issue of accessibility inequality, including inaccessible workplace applications.1
The frustration of being locked out of a mobile app simply because of a non-navigable cookie banner, or not being able to access alt text on an e-commerce website, is a daily reality for many. It is time to regain their trust and reshape the way we work in product development by collaborating across disciplines to provide inclusive, accessible experiences by design, not as an afterthought.
And the struggle of completing simple tasks online is backed by data: recent studies show just how widespread accessibility barriers still are. According to AccessibilityChecker.org’s 2024 research, 88% of websites are not fully compliant with current web accessibility standards, with the average website scoring around 60 out of 100 in accessibility assessments.2
WebAIM’s 2024 report analyzed the top one million websites and found that 95.9% had detectable Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) conformance failures on their homepages, averaging 56.8 errors per page. The most common issue was low contrast text, affecting 81% of homepages. 3
_______________
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/sconcerns/disability/statistics/#!/countries
[3] https://www.acquia.com/blog/accessibility-statistic
