Digital Accessibility Trends for 2025: What You Need to Know

Digital accessibility is shifting from an optional enhancement to a requirement. This shift reflects a growing understanding that inclusive digital spaces are not just beneficial - they're essential for modern business and society. Let's look into the key accessibility requirements for 2025. Let’s get started!

What is digital accessibility and why does it matter?

Digital accessibility means creating websites, apps, and digital content that everyone can use, regardless of their abilities. Think of it as building digital ramps, handrails, and clear signage - but for the online world.

The numbers tell a compelling story:

• Over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability
• 95.9% of website homepages still have at least one WCAG failure
• 58% of people with disabilities prefer mobile apps over websites for common tasks
• Nearly half of all websites (48.6%) lack proper form input labels
• The accessibility market represents over $13 trillion in annual disposable income globally

These statistics highlight the importance of digital accessibility. Organizations implementing proper accessibility measures can benefit from expanded market reach, improved user experience for all visitors, enhanced brand reputation, and reduced legal risks.

How are accessibility laws changing in 2025?

There will be a change in the accessibility laws in 2025. Let's look at these key regulations and what they mean for organizations worldwide.

European Accessibility Act

In 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) introduces mandatory accessibility requirements across the European Union. This legislation makes digital accessibility mandatory for a broad range of products and services, affecting both European businesses and organizations worldwide that serve European customers. The act covers essential digital products including computers, smartphones, ATMs, e-books, and e-commerce platforms, as well as key services like banking, transportation, and audio-visual media. Organizations must ensure their websites meet WCAG 2.1 standards, with WCAG 2.2 and the anticipated WCAG 3.0 bringing additional requirements.

You might be interested in our whitepaper: Digital Accessibility & EAA: Telecommunications Industry Under Review.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Similarly, in the United States, parallel developments are occurring with the Department of Justice's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) update, requiring state and local governments' websites and mobile applications to be fully accessible by April 2026 for larger entities (50,000 or more people) and April 2027 for smaller ones (fewer than 50,000). This regulation requires both websites and mobile applications to comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. However, to ensure the successful implementation of digital accessibility requirements, organizations should begin their compliance efforts now.

The global impact of accessibility guidelines

While each of these legislations targets different geographic jurisdictions, their influence extends beyond borders and often overlaps. Organizations operating internationally are adopting the more comprehensive requirements of these regulations as their baseline standard, recognizing that meeting the highest accessibility requirements is more efficient than maintaining different standards for different regions.

Team guide to accessibility

Creating accessible digital experiences requires coordination across different teams, from developers building the technical foundation to designers creating inclusive interfaces, and marketers ensuring accessible content to business leaders driving the implementation.

Developer focus

Technical implementation

Developers need to focus on creating accessible foundations for digital products. This includes implementing semantic HTML, ensuring keyboard navigation, and maintaining ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) landmarks and roles. New development frameworks and tools are emerging to help automate accessibility features during the build process.

Development standards 

Implementing consistent coding standards and accessibility patterns across the codebase. This includes following best practices for component development, maintaining proper HTML structure, and ensuring proper state management for interactive elements.

Performance optimization

Website performance directly impacts accessibility. Developers should focus on optimizing load times, reducing JavaScript burden, and ensuring smooth operation across different devices and connection speeds. This includes implementing efficient code practices and modern performance optimization techniques.

Designer perspective

Universal design principles

Designers must embrace universal design principles from the project's inception. This means creating interfaces that work for everyone, regardless of ability, while maintaining aesthetic appeal and brand consistency.

Adaptive interfaces

Design systems should support various user preferences, including high contrast modes, different text sizes, and alternative navigation methods. Interactive elements need clear focus states and touch-friendly sizing.

Color and typography

Designers must ensure sufficient color contrast and readable typography across all screen sizes. This includes maintaining legibility when users modify text size or spacing and providing alternative visual indicators beyond color alone.

Marketing priorities

Content accessibility

Marketing specialists need to create content that's accessible across all formats. This includes providing alt text for images, captions for videos, and transcripts for audio content. Content should be clear, concise, and structured with proper heading hierarchies.

SEO and accessibility alignment

Many accessibility best practices align with SEO requirements. Marketers should focus on creating well-structured content that serves both purposes, including descriptive headings, clear navigation paths, and proper semantic structure.

Social media accessibility

Marketing teams must ensure social media content is accessible, including providing image descriptions, captioning videos, and using camelCase (the first letter of each word is capitalized) for hashtags.

Business considerations

Market expansion

Implementing accessibility features opens your digital products to a wider audience, including the growing population of users with disabilities. This expansion can lead to increased market share and customer loyalty.

Risk reduction

With stricter regulations coming into force, businesses must prioritize accessibility to avoid legal risks and potential penalties. Early adoption of accessibility standards can prevent costly retrofitting later.

Brand reputation

Companies that prioritize accessibility demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity, which resonates with modern consumers who increasingly value socially responsible businesses.

User experience and customer satisfaction 

Accessible design leads to better user experiences for everyone, not just users with disabilities. When websites and applications are thoughtfully designed for accessibility, they become more intuitive, easier to navigate, and more user-friendly for all customers, resulting in higher satisfaction rates and increased customer loyalty.

Employee retention

Organizations known for their commitment to accessibility attract a more diverse talent pool and often experience higher employee satisfaction and retention rates. This commitment signals to potential and current employees that the company values inclusion and diversity, creating a more attractive workplace culture that helps retain top talent.

You might also be interested in: What is Digital Accessibility and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever.

Common accessibility mistakes to avoid

Many organizations unknowingly create barriers in their digital product. Understanding these common issues is the first step toward creating more accessible experiences for everyone. Below we have listed some of the most common issues.

1. Poor heading structure

One of the most common issues is improper heading hierarchy. When headings skip levels (like jumping from H1 to H4) or are chosen for visual appeal rather than logical structure, it creates confusion for screen reader users and breaks the natural flow of content. Proper heading structure should follow a sequential order, starting with one H1 for the page title, followed by H2s for main sections, and H3s for subsections.

2. Poor color contrast

Many websites prioritize aesthetic appeal over readability, resulting in text that's difficult to read against its background. Poor color contrast particularly affects users with visual impairments and color blindness. WCAG guidelines require a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for large text, yet many sites fall short of these requirements.

3. Missing or improper alt text

Images without alternative text or poorly written descriptions create significant barriers for users using screen readers. Common mistakes include leaving alt text empty when the image conveys meaning, using generic descriptions like “image” or “photo”, or adding unnecessary descriptions for decorative elements. Alt text should be concise yet descriptive enough to convey the image's purpose or content. Some good examples of alt text would be:

• For a company logo: “TestDevLab logo”
• For a product image: “Red leather crossbody bag with gold hardware”
• For an informational graph: “Bar graph showing website traffic growth from 2023-2024, with 40% increase in mobile users”
• For a team photo: “Marketing team of five people smiling in an office setting”
• For a how-to image: “Step 3: Adding yeast to warm water mixture”

4. Non-accessible forms

Forms often present multiple accessibility challenges: missing labels, lack of clear error messages, absence of keyboard navigation support, and no clear indication of required fields. These issues can make it impossible for users with disabilities to complete essential tasks like making purchases or submitting information.

5. Keyboard navigation problems

Many websites fail to ensure proper keyboard navigation, making it difficult or impossible for users who can't use a mouse to interact with the content. Common issues include non-visible focus indicators, unreachable elements, and keyboard traps where users can't navigate past certain components.

6. Inaccessible multimedia content

Videos without captions, audio content without transcripts, and media players that can't be controlled via keyboard create barriers for users with hearing impairments or those who rely on keyboard navigation. As multimedia content becomes more prevalent, these accessibility gaps impact an increasing number of users.

7. Non-descriptive link text

Using generic phrases like “click here” or “learn more” as link text fails to provide context for screen reader users. Links should clearly indicate their purpose and destination without relying on surrounding content for context.

To better understand the impact of these accessibility mistakes, we have put together a risk matrix:

How should organizations prepare for 2025?

To ensure successful implementation of digital accessibility requirements, organizations should:

1. Conduct a comprehensive accessibility audit
2. Provide role-specific training for all team members
3. Implement regular monitoring and updates
4. Gather user feedback and adapt accordingly
5. Stay informed about evolving standards

Final thoughts

As we move closer to 2025, digital accessibility will continue to evolve. Organizations that proactively embrace these trends will not only meet legal requirements but also create better digital experiences for all users. The key to success lies in viewing accessibility not as a compliance checkbox, but as an important part of digital strategy.

By incorporating these role-specific considerations into your accessibility strategy, you can create more inclusive, user-friendly experiences that benefit all users while staying ahead of regulatory requirements and market demands.

Is your digital product truly accessible to all users? Contact us to learn how our accessibility testing and consultancy services will help you meet accessibility standards.