Almost none track how many people leave because they simply cannot use the website.
In 2025, 94.8% of homepages still fail basic accessibility checks, according to the WebAIM Million Report.
Globally, around 16% of people live with significant disabilities, based on data from the United Nations.
In Canada, about 26% of people have a confirmed disability when considering all types and levels.
This is not a niche audience. It is a meaningful part of your market.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
A visitor with low vision lands on your site. The contrast is weak. The product description is hard to read. They leave.
Someone with dyslexia struggles with dense text and tight spacing. Reading becomes exhausting. They close the tab.
A user with attention difficulties feels overwhelmed by visual clutter and cannot focus on the main content. They abandon the page.
You do not see these moments in your analytics. You just see a bounce.
The Revenue Leak No One Calculates
Let’s stay conservative.
Assume only 1% of your potential customers leave because your website is difficult to read or use comfortably.
If your company generates $100,000 per month, that is $1,000 lost monthly.
That is $12,000 per year.
Lost not because your offer is weak. Lost because your website experience was.
Accessibility is not just about regulations. It is about usability and revenue protection.
Why So Many Businesses Still Ignore It
Because accessibility feels technical and overwhelming.
Because improving a website properly can require time, design changes, and development work.
Because small and mid sized businesses often do not have the budget or internal resources for a large project.
So it gets postponed.
A Practical Step Forward
The ideal solution is building websites that are accessible from the ground up.
But even without a full rebuild, you can make your website more accessible for users, including people with disabilities.
Tools like WideAccess allow visitors to adjust contrast, text size, spacing, fonts, and enable text to speech.
There is a free version available, and the Pro plan costs about the price of two Starbucks drinks per month.
It is not a magic fix. But it is a practical step that makes your website more usable today.
The Question Is Simple
How many customers are you willing to lose because your website was not built to include them?
Links
Free WordPress plugin: wordpress.org/plugins/wideaccess-accessibility-widget
Free non-WordPress widget: wideaccess.ca
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