What is accessibility in the digital landscape?
Accessibility in the digital landscape refers to designing and developing digital content, tools and technologies in a way that ensures they are usable and accessible for users with disabilities. It’s about removing the barriers that prevent users from experiencing your digital products or services.
There are four main barriers that affect disabled users: auditory, cognitive, motor or visual impairments. For example, the way your website is designed, or the way you present your content could potentially exclude 1 in 5 of your audience.
Temporary issues - for example a broken arm - can impact a much broader range of people without disabilities. Therefore, being as accessible as possible is beneficial for everyone. This is why we've made this the first statement in our manifesto… everyone in, no one forgotten.
In England, in the 2021 census, 9.8 million people (17.7% of the population) identified as disabled.
What has changed?
Since 2018, all UK websites for public sector organisations have to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility guidelines. These guidelines lay out minimum standards for web content, including structure, legibility, text-to-speech support, and the use of plain English.
With a noticeable and positive shift in the importance of web accessibility, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a new act to help ensure European digital products are inclusive.
From June 28, 2025, digital products and services will be required to conform with WCAG 2.1 level AA standards. This new Act is designed to make sure all online experiences are accessible for everyone, including those with disabilities. This is relevant to the UK (not just to EU countries) as we expect new UK accessibility legislation to mirror the EAA.
Our manifesto accessibility audit
To help our clients be as accessible as possible, we've designed our comprehensive accessibility audit. The audit is made up of four methods.
1. Automated testing
We use a combination of automated testing platforms. We start with Google Lighthouse, which gives a score out of 100 and highlights accessibility issues as a litmus test. We then take an in-depth look using:
2. Assistive Technologies
We also manually audit using assistive technologies, as automated testing can only capture around 80% of accessibility issues. The technologies we use are:
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VoiceOver, macOS screen reader
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Zoom in macOS
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Keyboard to navigate through the site
3. Testing with users
Testing with people who have auditory, cognitive, motor, or visual impairments is crucial because it helps uncover usability issues that might not be picked up by automated tools.
By working with users with these barriers, we gain insights into how individuals with diverse needs interact with your digital products and services, enabling us to make necessary adjustments.
4. Code review
It's important to consider the code of any service because code issues could be acting as a barrier, in particular to users who use assistive technologies.
By combining thorough testing and our accessibility expertise, we review the codebase and identify potential code issues.
Accessibility drives inclusion
We've made accessibility one of the foundations of our manifesto for change.
For us, it's not about box-ticking the ever-evolving accessibility standards - it's one of the simplest and easiest things to action to become truly inclusive.
If you would like to hear more, please get in contact with our Accessibility Expert and Director of Design Rachael Sutherland: Book a call with Rachael