Time to Stop Burying Your Head in the Sand When It Comes to Web Accessibility

Alt text: Heart graphic with ‘Design for All’ written in the centre and Bernadette agency logo

On 28th June 2025, it will be EU law for all websites and apps to adhere to AA WCAG accessibility standards, as the European Accessibility Act (EEA) is going to be updated. Although the UK is no longer part of the EU, this law will apply to all companies that operate in the EU (so a lot of UK and worldwide companies). 

What on Earth does ‘AA WCAG’ mean? Let me help… that’s a lot of letters to get your head around! Well firstly, ‘WCAG stands’ for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and ‘AA’ is equivalent to a ‘Silver’ level if we were talking Bronze (A), Silver (AA) and Gold (AAA) standards. 

Why is web accessibility important?

Web accessibility is about making sure that websites and apps can be used and understood by everybody, regardless of which device or screen someone is using, their ability, circumstance, or background. 

In the UK, around 18% of the population are disabled (2021 Census), that’s 9.8 million people in the UK alone. Recent research that we conducted in partnership with our sister agency Watermelon, found that 21% of people declared having web accessibility needs. Of the 4,600+ survey respondents, we found people were affected in the follow ways:

• 7% Neurodiversity e.g. dyslexia, ADHD, autism
• 6% Hearing: e,g, deafness, tinnitus, hearing impairment
• 6% Touch/physical ability e.g. physical disability, broken arm, repetitive strain injury
• 4% Sight: e.g. visual impairment, colour blind
• 4% Language e.g. speaking english as a second language
• 2% Speech e.g. speech impediment, accents

Then combine this with a recent survey by Nice that revealed 37% of consumers will abandon a brand due to poor customer experience. More consideration and application of accessible design principles is not just about benefiting the 21% of the population with web accessibility needs. Failing to prioritise user-friendly experiences will harm customer satisfaction and will damage your brand reputation.

Accessibility is often treated as a compliance issue or technical task, overlooked in favour of aesthetics being the draw for people to engage with your brand. However, great accessibility and inclusivity doesn’t compromise aesthetics. It works with it, and compliments it, while putting in the right functionality for your business to be accessible to more people - if anything, it elevates your brand’s appeal beyond aesthetic attraction alone. Beyond legal requirements, it broadens your brand's reach, improves the customer experience, and boosts loyalty, advocacy, and confidence among a wider audience.

It’s time to start learning about web accessibility

For anyone responsible for a website or app, you really, really need to act now - or ideally to have already started. Remember GDPR? That caused some big changes and legal necessities to act fast - well this isn’t too dissimilar. However, just as GDPR was a scary topic to get started with, we don’t blame you if you’ve been apprehensive about getting your head around web accessibility and don’t know where to begin.

Help is at hand

We’ve been designing and building accessible websites and apps at Bernadette for many years now, and part of our efforts to do that have involved upskilling our own teams. So we created a number of artefacts to make it easier for everyone at Bernadette to ensure that their work would be accessible. These have been so useful that we’re incredibly proud to make them open source, and share them with you.

Image alt text: 3 free downloadable documents created by our Accessibility Collective

We have made three free downloads available on our website which you can see here.

• “Accessible Design & Content Checklist”: 40 elements to check whether your design and content adhere to web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG), so all of the criteria except the dev ones
• “A, AA and AAA in a nutshell”: Simple explanation of the three levels of WCAG criteria
• “10 Things to Bear in Mind” when creating inclusive designs

Plus our door is always open to discuss this topic and help you and your brand as much as possible. After all, making websites and apps accessible is the right thing to do, and benefits everyone.