When I first started my career in UX/UI design, I presented a redesign of a dashboard to a SaaS client. A clean interface, smooth animations, trendy gradients. The CEO nodded approvingly until their product manager squinted at the screen and said, “I can't read anything.”
The text was 13px. Light gray on white. It was indeed inconvenient for regular users.
That moment haunts me. And the question that changed my approach was, “Who did I exclude?”
Legal Reality: Compliance Isn’t Optional
That dashboard redesign? The real problem wasn't just that product manager couldn't read the text. It was also that I had unknowingly created a product with legal and financial risks.
Some product owners may perceive accessibility as a "nice-to-have." This is a dangerous misconception, as this aspect of digital products is regulated by the following:
- WCAG 2.2, an international accessibility standard with levels A (minimum), AA (goal for most), and AAA (advanced). It is referenced in laws around the world.
- The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which applies to digital products.
- The European Accessibility Act, which came into force in June 2025, mandates that all digital products and services in the EU must be accessible. E-commerce, banking, transportation, telecommunications - everything falls under this law.
The Domino's Pizza story is a textbook example of how not to do things.
In 2016, Guillermo Robles, a man with blindness, visited the Domino's website to order a pizza. His screen reader couldn't interact with the interface properly, and Guillermo Robles decided to sue them.
As a result, Domino’s had to file a petition, reaching the Supreme Court, but it denied it. Domino’s had to fight this accessibility claim in court.
If you work with the US market, the ADA applies. If you work with the European market, the European Accessibility Act applies. Either way, your digital products must be accessible - and these are not just guidelines but legal requirements.
Designing for Some, Helping Everyone
Remember my question from the beginning - "Who did I exclude?"
The answer is bigger than I thought. According to the WHO, approximately 1.3 billion people - 16% of us - live with some form of disability. That's one in six people. When you create an inaccessible product, you're not serving a "niche." You're excluding a huge segment of the market.
In addition, according to the Nielsen Norman Group, between the ages of 25 and 60, the ability to use websites declines by 0.8% annually due to natural vision deterioration. After 40, everyone's vision deteriorates.
But permanent impairments are only part of the story.
Ramps on sidewalks were created for wheelchairs. Who else uses them? Parents with strollers, people with luggage, couriers, and cyclists. Everyone uses a solution designed for people with disabilities.
This is a fundamental principle of inclusive design: solutions for extreme cases become convenient for everyone.
Limitations can be categorized in the following ways:
- Permanent: arm amputation
- Temporary: broken arm
- Situational: parent holding a child
All three need the same solution: keyboard navigation, voice control, and one-handed operation. By solving for permanent disability, you automatically solve for everyone.
Situational Limitations: Your Users Are Already Experiencing Them
Think about the past week. How many times did you encounter situational constraints?
- You watched a video in a library or café without headphones, and subtitles became a necessity.
- You tried to read your phone screen in bright sunlight, and the low contrast made the text completely unreadable.
- You cooked dinner, desperately needing voice control or touchless navigation.
- You filled out a form after a long day at work, and fatigue and cognitive load made complex interfaces unbearable.
Thus, situational disabilities aren't rare but part of daily life for all of us.
The Business Case for Accessibility
“What about the impact of accessibility on product metrics?” - I hear this from many product owners. Let's talk numbers from some of our recent design projects where we improved accessibility or implemented its features from scratch:
- Onboarding time: Reduced from 4.5 to 1.5 days
- Support tickets: Dropped by 25-40%
- Form completion: HR SaaS cut abandonment from 45% to 10%
Apple Does It Right
VoiceOver (built-in screen reader, one of Apple’s multiple accessibility features) works out of the box on all Apple devices. Adjustable text sizes, high-contrast modes, and voice control are standard features. Millions of users with disabilities choose Apple for its accessibility. But everyone wins - seniors, people with temporary limitations, anyone in challenging usage conditions.
Practical Steps to Implement Accessibility
Where do you start your accessibility journey? Here are specific actions for today with real results from real projects.
1. Semantic HTML
<!-- Bad -->
<div class="button" onclick="submit()">Send</div>
<!-- Good -->
<button type="submit">Send</button>
Correct semantics (<header>, <nav>, <button> instead of <div>) helps screen readers. But there's a side effect: my e-commerce client received +34% organic traffic in three months. Google better understood the content structure.
Semantics automatically solves a big part of accessibility issues.
2. Contrast
Use WebAIM Contrast Checker. Minimum WCAG 2.1:
- 4.5:1 for text
- 3:1 for large text
- 3:1 for UI components
Check on colored backgrounds, in dark mode, at different brightness levels.
Real impact: I increased the contrast in a B2B dashboard from 13px to 16px, raised the contrast ratio to 7:1, and improved the line spacing. NPS increased by +12 points. Users said: "Finally, we can work without headaches."
3. Keyboard Navigation
Full keyboard navigation isn't just for people with motor impairments. When we implemented it for B2B SaaS, support tickets dropped by 40%. Advanced users discovered hotkeys and started working faster.
Who needs this? Developers, anyone with a broken mouse, and anyone who wants efficiency.
4. Touch Target Size
Minimum 44x44px on mobile devices. This helps people with motor impairments, the elderly, and anyone on the move.
5. Not Color Alone
Bad: "Red fields are mandatory."
Good: "Fields marked with an asterisk (*) and labeled 'mandatory'"
8% of men are colorblind. Plus, colors can be challenging to see in sunlight.
6. Subtitles and Transcripts
Subtitles for all videos. Transcripts for audio. Use auto-tools, but double-check.
Real impact: One of our clients, an educational platform, added transcripts to videos. Completion rates jumped by +28%. Students used Ctrl+F to search for topics, and people in cafes could watch without sound. What’s more, SEO was improved.
7. Testing with Real People
Automation catches 30-40% of problems. You need:
- Screen readers (NVDA, VoiceOver)
- Keyboard-only navigation
- Real users with disabilities
Make accessibility part of regular QA.
Conclusion
- When you design for blind people, you create a design that also helps all users and search engines.
- When you design for people with motor impairments, you add keyboard navigation and speed up power users.
- When you design for older people, you make text readable for everyone, in all lighting conditions and for all levels of eye fatigue.
- When you design for people with cognitive impairments, you simplify the interface for anyone who is tired and stressed.
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