When it comes to disability, the majority always have a myopic view on it. It is very polarized that it is often the ‘minority’ or just another buzzword for many businesses. However, about 15% of the global population or 1 in 6 of us, experience significant disabilities.

As of 2021, about 13.5% of the US population, experience disabilities. Almost 6.5 million people in the US now experience intellectual disabilities and 4% of the people in developed markets have vision impairments alone.For retail businesses, these are numbers screaming for attention as the target audience and ICPs are changing and businesses need to adapt in order to stay relevant in the market.

The inclusivity gap

The majority of technology leaders, like myself, spend innumerable hours and resources innovating our products, to maximize returns from our target audience. A few of us also venture into horizontal, vertical or geographical diversification. In the age of digital marketplaces and e-commerce, innovation is imperative. Many companies are adopting new age and cutting-edge tools like AI and VR to enhance customer engagement to maintain a competitive advantage and stay on top of innovation.

However, if digital accessibility is not integrated into these technology adoption, these two would operate in tangents and even the most technologically sophisticated websites fail to serve their customers. The gap– between business goals and targeting your ICPs, which predominantly requires an ‘accessibility pass’ is critical to address. 

You can invest in numerous technologies that let users understand  how a certain type of furniture is going to look in your living room, or how a certain make-up product is going to look on yourself real-time, but if you haven’t cracked your website interface with the accessibility code, you are missing on a significant opportunity and excluding a crucial segment of your audience, potentially limiting the very impact you aim to create.

Democratising digital experience

There are primarily four types of disabilities – hearing, vision, motor, and cognitive. Accessibility, a virtue of making your offerings available to everyone, including those with disabilities is the secret target group most of us do not focus on. Digital accessibility in specific, requires your digital platforms (websites, web and mobile applications) to be accessible by all assistive technologies – screen readers, screen magnifiers, keyboard navigation and dictation software.

As a business owner, striving to reach more people, delivering the best experience possible and keeping stable customer retention are top priorities. Obviously, increasing the top-line is an important business action, we are laser focused about.

Nevertheless, most of us overlook a good chunk of the untapped audience. Many of theses people belong to your ideal customer profile. They are in-need of your offering, but they never hear from you. Surprising isn’t? It is important to note that accessibility is a business opportunity, not just a legal or PR obligation.

Digital accessibility is more than just a compliance issue

Non-compliance to accessibility leads to over $6 billion in lost revenue by companies, all around the world. I would also go on to say that equal access is a global human right and a regulated consumer right. Just that, there aren’t many businesses out there, who focus on this. A great market gap perhaps?

Also, every year, numerous lawsuits are logged on companies with poor accessibility experiences, for millions of dollars. About 2398 lawsuits were filed for accessibility in 2022 alone. If you happen to do business, where accessibility is a legal requirement, you better be accessible.

All non-federal websites are mandated to be accessible in accordance with ‘Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’ in the United States. With Section 508 mandating all federal government agencies and contractors to be accessible. We’ve got similar laws that mandate all digital platforms to be accessible in Canada (CVAA and AODA) and European Union (EN 301 549) as well.

Naturally, some business owners plying their trade in these countries apply accessibility only to be legally compliant. Using ‘external overlays’ is the common thing to do here. These overlays make websites temporarily accessible in the front-end, without making any real changes. If you are someone who is currently using these for your business, or are planning to use these, just stay away.

Be aware that many companies using these external overlays have been sued recently. Furthermore, these overlays are fundamentally against the idea of making your offering accessible. Why use a band-aid solution, when you can instead focus on elevating the user experience?

Way forward

High digital accessibility standards benefit everyone, including users with older devices, slow internet, older adults, and those with temporary impairments, enhancing overall usability and conversion rates.

By making your brand accessible, you not only showcase your commitment to inclusivity, but also directly increase your website’s SEO. Perform a customer journey map of your ideal customers, understand the touchpoints they normally interact with, and elevate the user experience here.

Make your digital platforms inherently accessible to all assistive technology devices, by focusing on end-user experience. Work on incorporating accessibility into your website code, design, and content. Your customers would thank you for this. In the current business scenario, where most of us are increasing our value proposition and are searching for blue oceans, it’s absolutely funny how most of us have missed such a straightforward target audience. Get the market advantage today, by making your digital offerings accessible.

Brian Gavin is co-founder of Wallyax, an accessibility platform focused on user experience.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness