Let’s face it—most companies have gone digital.
From ordering our morning coffee, paying for a bus ride, communicating with family, friends, and colleagues, or purchasing daily necessities, we do everything via voice commands, or with a few taps of our fingers.
It is imperative now, more than ever, to incorporate digital accessibility into the narrative. Accessibility is no longer simply a minor design consideration; it’s a matter of social and moral rights. With every aspect of life being baked into the internet, the lives of those who cannot access digital interfaces are greatly hindered.
Digital accessibility is a massive untapped business opportunity. Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at the numbers.
What is digital accessibility?
Digital accessibility refers to the design and development of digital products that can be accessed and used effectively by people with disabilities.
Why is achieving digital accessibility so hard?
In the United States, digital accessibility at a federal level is regulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 255 of the Communications Act. Accessibility requirements for federal agencies subject to Section 508 or Section 255 are laid out in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines.
The ICT Guidelines explicitly adopt the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG), and courts have held that the WCAG is a good baseline to determine whether digital accessibility standards are being met under the ADA. Globally, the WCAG provides a set of international standards to help organizations ensure their digital content is accessible.
Despite these regulations, most websites and digital products are not compliant with these standards. There are several reasons that a website or digital product may not be compliant:
- Inconsistent regulation enforcement
- Complexity of regulations
- Lack of awareness
These factors create the perfect recipe for failing to comply with accessibility standards. Often, organizations don’t prioritize digital accessibility until they are hit with costly noncompliance lawsuits. What many organizations fail to realize is that it’s not about avoiding lawsuits and fees but about unlocking opportunities by engaging with a historically neglected group of consumers and doing the right thing while they’re at it.
According to G2’s feature scoring for the digital accessibility platforms software category, the digital accessibility platform features with the highest response rate (indicating those that users utilize most), are compliance monitoring, automated scan, and dynamic crawling. This suggests that businesses are interested in understanding how their accessibility performance measures up against regulations.
Understanding current state performance is the first step towards compliance, so the outlook for a more compliant future isn’t completely bleak. This data shows that many organizations want to be more compliant; they just need a little help.
So who’s responsible?
Another reason organizations struggle with digital accessibility is the lack of clear ownership. As a new product or feature update moves through the product development lifecycle, various team members contribute to its creation.
The process often begins with the product manager (PM), who defines the scope and documents detailed requirements. It then moves to the product designers, who create wireframes and mockups that inform how users will interact with the product. Finally, the developer begins to code the product or feature and brings it to life.
Some argue that designers, being directly involved with the product design, are solely responsible for ensuring its accessibility. However, each team member plays a crucial role in shaping the features and user experience of the end product. Let’s discuss how:
Product manager
Because product managers are involved in the entire product development lifecycle, they can ensure accessibility is a priority at every stage. One of a product manager’s first steps is creating a product requirements document (PRD) to inform and align stakeholders.
By incorporating accessibility requirements into PRDs, product managers can start the accessibility conversation early and ensure it is addressed. A PM’s role isn’t designing or coding the product, but rather being the user’s biggest advocate. This also means they must advocate for digital accessibility.
Designer
A product designer takes accessibility feature requirements and figures out the best way to incorporate them into the product’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Designers often have the deepest knowledge of accessibility guidelines and how to translate them into product design. It’s their responsibility to take the lead in accessibility conversations and flag things other stakeholders might have missed.
Accessibility-related design elements that designers commonly work on include:
- Ensuring color contrast and typography are accessible
- Developing user flows that accommodate various assistive technologies
- Creating clear and consistent navigation patterns
- Ensuring interactive elements are keyboard-accessible
- Designing for various user needs, including visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments
Senior UX designer at 6sense, Kush Dave, believes that the role of the designer is to incorporate accessibility into the design system, so any component used across the organization is accessible in nature. When each component within a system is accessible, and people use that system to create products across the organization, the products are accessible.
“The problem starts when accessibility is considered special and not considered part of the process. Accessibility should be a mandate. If a UX team decides they want to focus on doing a few things really well, accessibility should be baked into those things.”
Kush Dave
Senior UX Designer, 6sense.
Developer
Developers are responsible for the technical implementation of accessibility features. This entails implementing accessible code, which includes writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that adheres to accessibility standards. They use semantic markup to help screen readers and other assistive technologies interpret content correctly. Further, they implement accessible rich internet applications (ARIA) attributes to enhance the accessibility of dynamic content.
Developers often flag UX elements that lack accessible design and work with designers to improve them. They’re responsible for deeply understanding accessibility guidelines and staying informed about evolving guidelines.
Amanda Truetler, software engineer at G2, plays an active role in ensuring the accessibility of the products she develops. She pays close attention to details and often flags design elements that fail to meet accessibility standards, such as overly metaphorical copy and navigation buttons that are too abstract.
“There are great digital accessibility tools like screen readers, but true digital accessibility is ensuring that things work seamlessly without the need for special tools.”
Amanda Truetler
Software Engineer, G2.
Achieving digital accessibility is challenging. It demands deep knowledge of guidelines and regulations, significant time and resources, and effective communication among stakeholders. Given this complexity, it’s not surprising that organizations fail to prioritize accessibility.
For it to become a true priority, the initiative must start at the top. Digital accessibility needs to be integrated into an organization's overarching product strategy, ensuring that necessary time and resources are allocated, and all stakeholders are aligned towards this common goal. Only with this top-down approach can organizations create truly accessible products that serve all users, regardless of their abilities.
Accessible products will cut through the noise
The world has gone digital, and there’s no turning back. We are witnessing new digital products being released at an unprecedented rate. The products that will stand apart and ultimately be adopted over others are those created with intention and with user experience, especially for users with disabilities, at the forefront. A commitment to accessibility helps organizations avoid the risks associated with non-compliance, and it’s good for business, too. People with disabilities have spending power, and if they can’t spend it on your digital interfaces, they will spend it somewhere else.
Check out G2’s Website Accessibility categories and find the tools your business needs to ensure your products are accessible to everyone.
Edited by Monishka Agrawal
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