“Web accessibility means that websites, tools and technologies are developed so that people with disabilities can use them.”

— w3.org

Before learning about web accessibility, it hadn’t been a topic that I thought much about as a front-end developer. When coding, I aimed to follow best practices such as providing alternative text when using an image, or ensuring that the pages I coded were size responsive when used across different devices. As far as accessibility went this was the extent of my understanding.

Yet when you consider that 16% of the population is disabled (approximately 1.3 billion people), adding alternative text and responsiveness is just a tiny drop in the ocean of considerations myself and other developers could make when creating applications.

In fact, the more I learnt about accessibility, the more I realised how it can cover a vast amount of users who interact with the web. In my case, when reflecting on how I use the web, I have often used accessible features to aid my experiences when interacting with content. For example, closed captioning is a good friend of mine when watching videos, and when visiting a website that is just a bit too bright, having a dark mode toggle is great for a glasses wearer like myself.

With more of us now online than ever, websites that aren’t accessible create unnecessary barriers that can exclude billions of people from participating fully in digital life. Implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) early is a great starting point and an insightful way to challenge design ideas.

As I’ve started to incorporate and consider WCAG and tools, one of the most impactful lessons I’ve learnt is the reality that you are only able until you are disabled. Whether this is caused by environment, health reasons, or by the natural and inevitable process of ageing, accessibility is a huge game changer in how we can all interact with our surroundings.

This realisation has made me question everything I thought I knew about web development. But it’s also raised a bigger question: if so many people are affected by poor web design, why does this keep happening? I’m starting to learn that the answer might be in how we think about accessibility in the first place.