Stop Treating Accessibility as a Feature

Accessibility isn't a checkbox on your sprint board. It's a design constraint — like responsive layout or performance budgets — that should be present from day one.

I've audited dozens of web applications over the past year, and the pattern is always the same: accessibility is treated as a "nice to have" that gets bolted on after launch. By then, the cost of fixing it is 10x higher.

The Real Cost of Retrofitting

When you add accessibility after the fact, you're not just adding ARIA labels. You're rethinking component APIs, refactoring state management, and often redesigning user flows entirely. A modal that wasn't built with focus trapping in mind might need to be rewritten from scratch.

Shift Left on Accessibility

Include accessibility criteria in your definition of done. Use semantic HTML by default. Test with a screen reader before marking a component as complete — not during a quarterly audit.

The Tooling Exists

axe-core in your CI pipeline catches ~57% of WCAG violations automatically. ESLint plugins flag missing alt text and improper ARIA usage. Playwright can automate keyboard navigation tests. There's no excuse for shipping inaccessible code in 2026.

The Business Case

15% of the global population has a disability. In many jurisdictions, accessibility is a legal requirement. And accessible interfaces are universally better — they're more keyboard-friendly, more screen-reader compatible, and more resilient to edge cases.

Accessibility isn't altruism. It's engineering rigor.