Digital Accessibility: A Legal Obligation, an Inclusive Opportunity

“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone, regardless of disability, is an essential aspect.” — Tim Berners-Lee

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Executive Summary

Digital accessibility is increasingly a legal obligation, a competitive advantage, and an ethical responsibility for organisations that develop digital products.

Ensuring accessibility not only helps avoid legal penalties, but also improves user experience, expands product reach, and strengthens brand reputation. Designing inclusively from the outset, complying with WCAG standards, testing with diverse users, and documenting properly are key practices to achieve this.

In addition, Artificial Intelligence is emerging as an ally to personalise experiences, detect barriers, and offer new forms of interaction such as voice navigation or the automatic generation of descriptions.

Digital accessibility is not an optional extra: it is a right. And it is also an opportunity to build fairer, more efficient, and more sustainable products for everyone.

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A ruling that is shaping a global trend

In a ruling by a federal court in Minnesota (USA), websites were deemed to be “places of public accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). What does this mean? It means organisations are legally required to ensure their websites are accessible to everyone, including people with visual, hearing, cognitive, or motor disabilities.

This precedent is not an isolated case. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires compliance with mandatory standards by 28 June 2025. In Latin America, several national regulations are progressing to align with international criteria such as the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

 

Why digital accessibility is not optional

Designing accessible products does not only reduce the risk of lawsuits and penalties. It also improves user experience, expands the reach of the product, and strengthens brand reputation.
Additionally:

• It supports SEO performance (clear structure, correct tags, clean navigation).

• It reduces drop-off rates.

• It increases retention by offering inclusive and understandable experiences.

• It improves speed and efficiency of use, especially in time-pressured or situationally limited contexts (for example, bright sunlight or background noise).

Accessibility benefits far more people than we tend to imagine. It is not only about those with permanent disabilities, but also older people, people with temporary injuries, or even anyone interacting in less-than-ideal conditions.

How to get started: practical actions for your team

 

1. Inclusive design from the outset

Build accessibility principles into wireframes and prototypes. Tools such as the Include plugin for Figma help document key elements like heading hierarchy, focus order, and alternative text. This makes developer handoff clearer and minimises the loss of accessibility criteria along the way.

 

2. Alignment with WCAG

Make sure your website complies with WCAG standards such as:

• Appropriate colour contrast

• Keyboard navigation

• Alternative text for images

• Captions for video

• Properly labelled forms

In addition, organise content hierarchically with semantic HTML tags such as <main>, <article>, <nav>, <header> and headings <h1> to <h6> to improve both accessibility and SEO.

 

3. Testing with real users

Involving people with disabilities in usability testing helps identify real barriers that automated audits do not always reveal. It is also an excellent opportunity to validate whether language, flows, and interactions are intuitive and easy to understand.

 

4. More inclusive research

• Diverse recruitment: Consider different ages, levels of digital access, disabilities, and neurodivergent profiles.

• Accessible tools: Ensure interviews and tests can be done with screen readers or interpreters.

• Universal design: Simplify flows, avoid unnecessary jargon, and offer multiple content formats.

 

5. Bias-aware analysis

Break results down by segment to detect potential accessibility gaps. And critically: do not interpret difficulties as user error — treat them as opportunities to improve the design.

 

AI + digital accessibility: a powerful combination

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we design digital products. It can be a strong ally to:

• Automatically describe images for screen readers.

• Detect low visual contrast or unclear hierarchies.

• Summarise complex text to improve comprehension.

• Enable voice navigation or audio playback of content.

• Personalise the experience based on user preferences.

AI also enables navigation simulations with accessibility barriers, helping anticipate issues that might be missed in traditional testing.

 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

 

What happens if my website is not accessible?
You may face legal penalties, especially in regulated sectors such as banking, healthcare, education, or e-commerce. In addition, you will lose potential users and harm brand credibility.

Are automated tools enough?
No. While tools such as accessiBe, WAVE, or Axe are useful, they must be complemented with manual evaluation and validation with real users.

Which standards should I follow?
WCAG 2.1 is the most widely recognised global standard.

Does accessibility improve SEO?
Yes. A well-structured website with clear tags, logical navigation, and understandable content often ranks better in search engines.

In summary:

 

Digital accessibility is not just a trend or a design “nice-to-have”. It is a legal, social, and strategic responsibility. From design and development to testing and continuous improvement, building inclusive experiences is key to creating products that are more human, sustainable, and successful.

An inclusive web is a web for everyone.

Contact our experts: If you want to know where to start or how to audit your current product, we can help.

Discover our solutions: Explore how our capabilities in Development, UX Design, AI, Data, Cloud and DevOps can strengthen your organisation.