When I lost my sight years ago, the internet became one of my greatest tools as well as one of my biggest barriers. With a screen reader, I can do most anything online, which—in some instances—made things like shopping, scheduling, and learning much easier. Digital access opens doors. However, when a website, app, or document isn’t built to be accessible, the digital doors slam shut.
For me—and for more than a billion people worldwide living with disabilities—accessibility isn’t a feature, enhancement, or a “nice to have.” It can be the difference between independence and exclusion.
I strongly believe most people understand the importance of access to digital information.
I also believe most people care about creating digital experiences that enable every user to accomplish what they set out to accomplish.
However, the reality is—many organizations don’t believe they have the resources to prioritize accessibility, so they delay or deprioritize it entirely.
As someone who’s blind, this is frustrating. But as someone who’s been in the accessibility industry for more than a decade, delaying or deprioritizing accessibility is a costly, brand-damaging decision—now more than ever.
Why Accessibility Now?
Before getting into the risks, let’s talk about what’s driving accessibility urgency.
At the core, what we continue to hear is that legal rulings and rulemaking predominantly drive urgency. As background, here are a few laws—and deadlines to be aware of:
ADA Title II
The U.S. Department of Justice issued final rulemaking in 2024 clarifying that U.S. state and local government agencies, including their vendors and contractors, must ensure their websites, apps, embedded products, and conventional electronic documents conform with WCAG 2.1 AA standards. The deadlines for compliance are April 2026 and April 2027—depending on a municipality’s population size.
This is particularly important because the ADA was written into law before the prevalence of digital content. Clarifying that Title II of the ADA applies to digital content is a huge step forward for access and holds local and state agencies clearly accountable.
However, if you’re not a public sector agency and think you’re in the clear, you might not be. If you do any business with a Title II entity, the rule likely applies to you as well. Sales to the public sector, whether new business or existing contracts, are now at risk if your products and services are not accessible.
ADA Title III
Title III of the ADA is applicable to the private sector. It states that “places of public accommodation” must be accessible. Whether public accommodation applies to websites, mobile apps, and other digital experiences, has largely been up to interpretation. This means that if a user encounters an access issue, they can sue that business. And they have—by the thousands every year. And in many cases, ADA lawsuits are filed under the banner of state-level laws, such as the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, compounding the costs.
Importantly, the number of ADA-related lawsuits targeting websites and mobile apps is already outpacing the number of lawsuits filed in all of 2024, and we have months yet to go. And this number doesn’t account for the number of demand letters, which do not enter the public record. The legal threat is not going away.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
U.S. federal agencies—and their vendors—must deliver, and procure, accessible information and communications technology. Since Section 508 was refreshed in 2018 to incorporate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, it explicitly includes web sites, mobile apps, and documents. This law has been around for years, but I bring it up because—similar to Title II—it doesn’t just apply if you’re in the public sector. If you want to do business, or keep doing business, with the federal government, what you sell must be accessible.
European Accessibility Act (EAA)
As of June 28 of 2025, the EAA requires the accessibility of digital products and services. But this isn’t just a regulation impacting our friends across the pond. What you may not know is that if you have any customers who are based in the European Union—regardless of where your organization is located—the EAA applies to your business. The consequences of non-compliance, such as damages, fines, and penalties, vary depending on each EU member state.
State-Level Requirements
Certain U.S. states are doubling down on access to digital communications, many replicating the same timelines and approach required in the recent Title II rulemaking. Colorado and Virginia are establishing statewide accessibility standards related to software and digital product procurement. Colorado’s standard goes as far as stating the “contractor shall indemnify the State agency in relation to the contractor’s noncompliance with the accessibility standards.”
Sell to an organization in Colorado or Virginia—and accessibility is a must.
Bottom line, compliance requirements are clear—becoming clearer—and they’re not going away. Quite the opposite, in fact. New laws, requirements, and standards are coming online from all corners of the world.
The Dangerous “Delay and Risk” Mentality.
This brings us to the dangers of delaying or deprioritizing accessibility. Even as compliance deadlines loom, we continue to hear teams say, “We’ll take the risk.”
I understand the temptation. Budgets are tight. Competing priorities can feel more urgent. Lawsuits may seem like someone else’s problem. But from where I sit, this mindset is a gamble with very real stakes:
Legal risk
Settling a lawsuit is costly and doesn’t make the problem go away. If your organization is sued or served a demand letter, you still have to fix the problem. Now you’re on the hook for potential legal or settlement fees, and settling one ADA lawsuit does not prevent you from receiving another from a different plaintiff. On top of any legal or settlement costs, you now have to pull together a reactive accessibility plan—which suddenly consumes unplanned, valuable time and resources.
Lost revenue
Delays or deprioritizing can cost money on several fronts:
- If your organization is sued, retroactive fixes are far more costly than proactive design. Plus, you’re likely paying legal or settlement fees on top, as addressed earlier. But also think about the financial impact to your workflows or your product roadmap. Legal settlement agreements often hold organizations to a 12-month timeline, so you’ve now forfeited your development roadmap and potentially delayed your new product releases. Ready to take that financial risk?
- Your buyers’ procurement teams require VPATs/ACRs, which document a software or digital product’s state of accessibility. Lack of accessibility often means no new contract. It can also mean no renewal with existing customers who are prioritizing accessibility.
Brand damage
Inaccessible experiences go viral quickly. Don’t take this lightly. Lawsuits are also often a matter of public record. And consumers are loyal to businesses that share their same values—access and inclusion among them. If you’re an e-commerce or retail organization, this point is particularly important. The vast majority of ADA-related lawsuits target e-commerce.
Access denied
When organizations “wait and see,” they aren’t just risking lawsuits—they’re actively excluding a large subset of users. Accessibility delayed is access denied.
It Pays to Act Now.
Accessibility takes time, especially at enterprise scale. Organizations managing thousands of web pages on hundreds of sites, multiple web or mobile applications, and vast libraries of documents can’t just “flip a switch” a few weeks or even months before a deadline.
Prioritizing accessibility now gives you the ability to:
- Work accessibility into your creation roadmap (websites, apps, products, PDFs, etc.) instead of retrofitting later.
- Allocate sustained investment and spread resources out over time to ultimately reduce long-term costs.
- Gain competitive advantage in contracts and RFPs.
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