Accessibility

Accessibility means a product can be used by people with visual, auditory, motor or cognitive disabilities. In practice it is measured against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which define testable success criteria at three levels: A, AA and AAA. AA is the level nearly every law and contract refers to.

The abbreviation “a11y” is a numeronym: the letter A, eleven letters, the letter Y.

It is not a minority concern

Roughly one in six people worldwide lives with a significant disability, according to the World Health Organization. Beyond that, most accessibility work also helps people with temporary or situational limitations: a broken arm, bright sunlight on a screen, a noisy train, a phone held one-handed.

This is why accessibility failures and usability failures overlap so heavily. Text below 4.5:1 contrast is hard for everyone outdoors. A form that cannot be operated by keyboard is slow for power users too.

The legal position in Europe

The European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025 and covers a wide range of consumer digital products and services, including e-commerce and banking. The harmonised European standard EN 301 549 references WCAG. For German public bodies, the BITV 2.0 applies. Accessibility has moved from good practice to a procurement requirement.

In practice

The cheapest wins are usually the same ones: real text instead of text in images, labels tied to their form fields, a visible focus indicator, colour never used as the only signal, and headings in a sensible order.