Deque

Listen to this article

There’s been a noticeable increase in conversation across the accessibility community and among organizations impacted by ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Title II about potential changes to the web accessibility rule. Ongoing federal review activity has prompted questions about timing and implementation, and in some cases, speculation about what may change. Many organizations are now seeking practical guidance on how to move forward.

Let’s start with what matters most.

The rule is still the rule

Today, the ADA Title II regulation remains in effect as published. There has been no official announcement changing the compliance requirements or deadlines.

That means state and local governments, and the organizations that support them, should continue preparing for compliance.

Or, as Lainey Feingold, a disability rights lawyer focused on digital accessibility, wrote in a recent post, “The rule is the rule until it isn’t.”

At this point, it’s reasonable to say:

There is no confirmed outcome.
There are indicators of potential movement.
The range of possibilities includes delay or modification.
A full rollback appears unlikely based on current signals.

Separating signal from speculation

There is real activity happening. Ongoing federal review, including reports of an interim final rule under consideration, has raised questions about what may change and when.

At the same time, uncertainty has created space for rumors, particularly on social platforms. You may have seen speculation that:

The rule will be canceled.
Deadlines are no longer relevant.
Compliance efforts should pause.

None of these statements are grounded in official regulatory action.

This is an important moment to stay focused on verified information rather than reacting to speculation.

Accessibility was already required under the ADA

It is also important to understand that the accessibility requirement is not new.

Long before the recent ADA Title II rule, the ADA already required state and local governments to provide equal access to their programs, services, and activities. That obligation applies regardless of whether those services are delivered in person, on the web, or through mobile applications.

For years, digital accessibility has been enforced through:

Complaints and investigations by the Department of Justice.
Complaints and litigation by end-users.
Settlement agreements.
Case law interpreting equal access in a digital context.

The ADA has always required accessibility. What had been missing is consistency in how to measure it. The Title II rule does not introduce a new expectation. It clearly defines one. This means digital accessibility is not optional or something to work on later. It is a current responsibility, and progress must continue.

What organizations need to do right now

The most effective course of action is straightforward. We recommend that you:

Recognize accessibility as a continuous legal requirement
- Accessibility is not a one-time compliance event. It is an ongoing capability.
- Even if the ADA Title II deadlines shift, the underlying expectations and user needs do not.
Stay aligned to WCAG 2.1 AA (or higher)
- The technical foundation of the rule is well established and widely adopted across industries, and is regularly used by the U.S. Department of Justice in enforcement and settlement agreements. Continuing to align with it reflects how accessibility is already being measured and enforced today.
- Progress made today moves you toward meeting current compliance expectations and closer to sustainable, scalable accessibility.
Don’t pause accessibility efforts
- Accessibility is an ongoing process, and you always need to prioritize it to ensure equal access for everyone who engages with your organization.
- Pausing accessibility work does not reduce legal risk. It increases existing risk and can introduce new risk.
- ADA legal obligations remain in effect.
- When accessibility work pauses, people with disabilities continue to encounter barriers accessing websites, forms, and services, regardless of compliance deadlines. These barriers violate the ADA’s requirements today.
- Delaying accessibility work increases the cost and complexity of remediation later, as issues accumulate and must be fixed further downstream in the development process, where changes are more expensive and harder to implement at scale.
Focus on sustainable accessibility practices
- Success means not chasing deadlines, but rather, continuing to build systems, processes, and programs that consistently produce accessible outcomes, such as:
  - Automated testing within the CI/CD pipeline
  - Clear governance and accountability
  - Design systems with accessibility built in
  - Ongoing conformance monitoring and remediation

What happens if the deadlines shift? What may change, and what does not change.

If the ADA Title II compliance deadlines are adjusted, it may feel like a reprieve. In reality, very little changes where it matters most.

What may change:

Compliance dates and enforcement timelines.
Short-term prioritization decisions within organizations.

These changes may affect your near-term planning decisions, but they do not change the requirement to make digital services accessible, which is already being measured against WCAG 2.1 in practice.

What does not change:

The requirement that digital services be accessible.
The reliance on WCAG as the technical standard.
The need for sustainable, scalable accessibility practices.
The legal and reputational risk of inaccessible experiences.
The marketplace demand in the procurement space.

These are the factors that drive enforcement and business decisions. They shape how organizations are evaluated today, regardless of shifting timelines.

A delay changes the due date for compliance with WCAG 2.1 A/AA. It does not change the underlying requirement to ensure digital services are accessible.

Why accessibility readiness still matters

Accessibility readiness is not about hitting a single deadline. It is about building the capability to consistently deliver inclusive experiences.

When your organization invests in readiness, you:

Reduce legal, financial, and reputational risk.
Reduce long-term remediation costs.
Avoid last-minute scrambles and fire drills.
Improve usability for all users, not just those with disabilities.
Strengthen trust with your communities.
Remain competitive in the marketplace.

Just as important, accessibility does not exist in a vacuum. It intersects with broader trends in digital quality, automation, and AI-driven development. Organizations that are not ready will fall behind peers who are already building accessibility into how they design, develop, and deliver digital experiences, regardless of regulatory timing. Organizations that are prepared will continue to lead the way forward in providing products, services, and experiences that work for everyone.

Deque’s perspective

At Deque, we are closely monitoring developments and staying engaged with trusted sources across government, legal, industry, and accessibility communities.

Our commitment is simple:

Provide clear, fact-based guidance.
Avoid unnecessary alarm or speculation.
Help organizations make confident, informed decisions.

If anything changes, we will explain:

What changed.
What it means.
What you should do next.

The bottom line

There may be movement.
There may be updates.

But today:

The rule is still the rule.

And the best thing organizations can do right now is keep moving forward, meeting compliance expectations, and creating long-term, scalable accessibility.

If you have questions about how this may impact your accessibility strategy, Deque’s team is here to help you navigate it with clarity and confidence. Reach out to Deque today.

Glenda Sims

Glenda Sims is the Chief Information Accessibility Officer at Deque, where she shares her expertise and passion for the open web with government organizations, educational institutions, and companies ranging in size from small businesses to large enterprise organizations. Glenda is an advisor and co-founder of AIR-University (Accessibility Internet Rally) and AccessU. She serves as an accessibility consultant, judge, and trainer for Knowbility, an organization whose mission is to support the independence of people with disabilities by promoting the availability of barrier-free IT. In 2010 Glenda co-authored the book InterACT with Web Standards: A holistic approach to Web Design.

All Posts by Glenda Sims Website

Tags: ADA Compliance , ADA Title II , Americans with Disabilities Act

Listen to this article

When your team is under pressure to move quickly, and you know you need to test for accessibility, automated testing can feel like the most efficient approach. In practice, however, accessibility testing requires both automated and manual testing. They serve different purposes, and both are necessary to determine whether an experience is truly accessible, usable, and conformant. The good news is, you can include manual testing and still maintain your velocity.

In this post, we’ll examine the complementary benefits of automated and manual testing and outline a testing approach that supports development speed while continuing to deliver more accessible user experiences.

Many teams begin improving their accessibility workflows by incorporating automated checks throughout their development lifecycle, using tools like Axe DevTools for Web to help identify common issues earlier in the process and reduce later rework.

Automated accessibility testing in modern development

By running accessibility checks locally, in pull requests and continuous integration pipelines, you can catch common issues early, when changes are easiest to fix. Over time, you’ll reduce the number of accessibility violations that can reach production or appear during audits. Using automation throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC) shifts accessibility from a last-minute concern to a proactive and preventative practice that supports continuous development.

Different tools for different contexts

There is a wide range of automated accessibility tools on the market. Some are intentionally simple, designed to test a single page against a fixed set of rules. They’re often quicker to adopt and can be useful for initial feedback during the development phase.

Other tools are built for larger environments and can crawl multiple pages, follow user flows, apply custom rule sets, and generate comprehensive reports. Platforms such as Axe Monitor, for example, are designed to continuously scan sites or applications at scale, helping teams track accessibility issues across releases and monitor trends over time. In many organizations, different tools are used at different stages. Developers might use simpler tools during daily development, while relying on broader scanning and monitoring tools for organization-wide visibility.

Browser-based tools

Browser-based tools play an important role in this conversation. With browser-based extensions such as the Axe DevTools Extension, developers and QA testers can analyze pages directly in the browser during development and testing. The Axe DevTools Extension surfaces accessibility issues with clear guidance and references to relevant standards, making it easier to understand what needs fixing and how to fix it. This helps teams move quickly from detection to remediation without requiring deep accessibility expertise.

The platform option

If automated testing is already part of your workflow, the Axe Platform is a natural way to mature that process. Rather than a single tool, the platform brings together accessibility solutions across design, development, testing, and production, so accessibility checks can happen wherever work occurs. This approach surfaces issues with consistent results and clear guidance, helping teams address problems earlier in the SDLC.

Relying solely on automation risks overlooking critical barriers

Despite its strengths, automated testing can only detect what can be reliably measured by the tool’s ruleset. Many accessibility requirements depend on context, meaning, and interaction.

For example, automated tools can identify whether interactive elements are properly labeled and whether components are technically focusable. However, they cannot determine whether instructions are clear to users, whether the order of interactions supports completing a task without confusion, or whether the overall flow of a page makes sense when navigating with assistive technologies.

These limitations are not failures of automation. They reflect the distinction between what can be programmatically determined and what requires human judgment. Automated testing excels at consistently detecting many technical accessibility violations, but evaluating how understandable and usable an experience is for real people still requires manual review.

Automation can and will uncover a meaningful portion of issues, but it cannot yet evaluate the overall experience of navigating, understanding, and using an interface. Relying solely on automated results risks overlooking real barriers that only appear when real interactions occur.

This is why manual testing is essential.

The benefits of manual accessibility testing

During manual testing, trained accessibility professionals evaluate aspects of accessibility that require human interpretation and real interaction with the interface. These checks often focus on how users experience a page or application as they move through tasks. This process can include evaluating page structure, interaction patterns, visual presentation, and whether instructions and feedback are understandable within a complete user flow.

Manual testing is most effective when it follows a methodology that is consistent rather than reactive or random. A structured approach helps ensure consistency across different projects and teams.

Accessibility testing typically involves defining the scope of testing, choosing a technical standard (for example, WCAG 2.2 AA or EN 301 549), selecting representative pages or user flows, applying repeatable evaluation techniques, and documenting findings that support efficient remediation. Many teams use automated and guided testing first, then complete a set of remaining manual checks to validate aspects of accessibility that still require human judgment.

When manual testing is applied intentionally, it complements automated testing by expanding coverage and validating real-world usability, leading to greater accuracy and efficiency.

Audits, VPATs, and program maturity

Accessibility audits and VPATs play distinct roles in accessibility programs. Understanding how audits, automation, and manual evaluation work together is essential for sustaining accessibility over time.

Audits and VPATs serve a different purpose than development testing

Accessibility audits and Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) serve distinct yet related roles within accessibility programs. An accessibility audit evaluates a product against accessibility standards and produces detailed findings that identify barriers and remediation priorities. Many organizations conduct audits simply to understand their current accessibility posture and determine the scope of work required to improve.

A VPAT, by contrast, is a formal document that communicates how a product conforms to accessibility standards. It is often used during procurement or vendor evaluation processes. Because VPATs make public or contractual claims about accessibility, they typically rely on the evidence produced through an accessibility audit.

Whether used for internal planning, procurement, or risk management, both audits and VPATs require a level of accuracy, traceability, and contextual evaluation that automated testing alone cannot provide.

How automated testing supports audit readiness

Automated testing plays a critical supporting role by continuously reducing the volume of known, programmatically detectable issues throughout the SDLC. When teams integrate automated checks into local development, pull requests, and CI/CD pipelines, they prevent many common failures from ever reaching the audit. This lowers remediation effort, shortens audit cycles, and reduces the likelihood of surprises later in the process.

Why manual evaluation is still required

Accessibility audits evaluate products against defined technical standards such as WCAG 2.2 AA. While many success criteria can be evaluated programmatically, others require human interpretation to determine whether the requirement is truly satisfied.

For example, evaluators may need to assess whether instructions are clear enough for users to complete a task, whether content structure communicates meaning effectively, or whether dynamic updates are announced in a way that assistive technologies can interpret correctly. These kinds of determinations depend on context and human review rather than purely automated checks.

Because of this, manual evaluation remains a necessary part of accessibility audits. Automated testing can surface many technical violations, but manual assessment ensures that the product actually conforms to the full set of accessibility requirements defined by the applicable standard.

How mature programs bring these approaches together

Mature accessibility programs use automation and manual testing together to ensure comprehensive coverage of accessibility requirements. Automation establishes a consistent baseline of technical compliance and signals ongoing due diligence, while structured manual testing evaluates requirements that cannot be fully verified programmatically.

Accessibility audits then build on both efforts, providing a detailed assessment of conformance against established accessibility standards at a specific point in time. The audit findings are supported by documented evidence and testing results that demonstrate how the product aligns with the applicable technical requirements.

From one-time audits to ongoing maturity

As programs evolve, audits and VPATs often become recurring checkpoints rather than one-time events. In this model, teams continue to perform both automated and manual accessibility testing throughout the product lifecycle, using automation to continuously identify programmatically detectable issues, while manual evaluation verifies requirements that require human judgment.

Periodic accessibility audits then provide an independent snapshot of conformance at a specific point in time. Together, ongoing testing and recurring audits help organizations move beyond reactive compliance and toward measurable, defensible accessibility maturity.

A practical way forward

Accessibility testing does not require choosing between speed and thoroughness. By integrating automated and manual testing, you can have the best of both worlds, scaling your efforts while expanding coverage, increasing accuracy, and maintaining velocity.

Ready to elevate your accessibility testing program? Reach out to Deque today to see how automated testing, audits, and expert guidance can work together to help your organization achieve its accessibility goals.

Jeremy Rivera

Jeremy Rivera is a Developer Advocate for Deque Systems Inc. He is a full-stack MERN Developer and a University of South Florida alum. Jeremy transitioned to developer relations to bridge the gap between software and developers needing a diverse array of tools. He is a general technologist and evangelist of open-source and cloud-based tools, passionate about helping developers make the web a more inclusive environment.

All Posts by Jeremy Rivera Website

Tags: accessibility audits , automated accessibility testing , manual accessibility testing , VPAT

Listen to this article

Today, digital accessibility is truly global, and momentum continues to accelerate and expand across social, political, financial, and legal sectors. The synergy is powerful, and shifts in one region will often both mirror and inspire developments in other areas. It’s essential to monitor all impactful global developments accordingly.

This is especially true for regulatory activity. Australia has a longstanding commitment to accessibility, and we’re increasingly seeing harmonization on key themes and standards with Europe and other regions around the globe.

The history of accessibility in Australia

Australia has demonstrated a decades-long commitment to accessibility, with the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) being a significant milestone. Other watershed moments include the Maguire v. Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee case in 2000, which affirmed that the DDA applied to web accessibility, and which was resolved through an AUS$20,000 reward negotiated by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). In 2015, the Australian grocery store chain Coles agreed to make its online shopping site more accessible as a result of legal action.

In this post, we’ll explore the most recent updates to Australia’s regulatory landscape to understand what they mean for organizations doing business in Australia, as well as for the rest of the world. We’ll specifically focus on beneficial actions and outcomes associated with compliance.

Recent accessibility updates in Australia

Three major accessibility shifts occurred in Australia in 2025:

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) affirmed WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the minimum standard.
The AHRC guidelines clarified that accessibility obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) extend to technologies such as SaaS platforms, AI tools, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and mobile apps.
The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) introduced the Digital Experience Policy, which mandates that all new government websites and digital services must meet digital inclusion, digital access, and digital performance standards.

Together, these updates represent a comprehensive re-scoping of what digital accessibility is and entails.

Australia is unique in many ways when it comes to its expansive approach to digital accessibility, and as we’ll discuss later in the post, there is additional guidance around testing for EN 301 549 that you’re recommended to follow.

But first, let’s examine each of these updates in more detail.

Australia’s update to WCAG 2.2 Level AA

In April 2025, the AHRC announced new guidelines focused on meeting legal obligations under the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), with a specific focus on digital products and services. As these changes are focused on driving compliance with the DDA, they cover public-facing digital services in both the public and private sectors. In other words, the guidelines apply to both business and government organizations.

Central to these guidelines is the recommendation that organizations align with WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the minimum accessibility benchmark, representing a significant change from WCAG 2.0, which had been the prevailing recommendation throughout the previous decade.

If you are not familiar, WCAG 2.2 AA contains 86 success criteria in total, including nine new additions beyond version 2.1. Of these, six apply at Levels A and AA, all of which are required for full WCAG 2.2 AA conformance. Together, these new additions address three areas of priority:

Pointer and keyboard usability. Three new criteria address how users interact with interfaces through keyboards and pointer devices:

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum): Level AA
2.5.7 Dragging Movements: Level AA
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum): Level AA

These criteria are particularly relevant as product teams design for the full range of assistive technologies and input methods in the market today.

Cognitive accessibility. Two new criteria reduce the cognitive burden placed on users during authentication and multi-step processes:

3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum): Level AA
3.3.7 Redundant Entry: Level A

These specific criteria reflect the recognition that accessibility obligations extend to cognitive considerations, not just visual and motor ones.

Consistent navigation support. One new criterion ensures that help mechanisms appear in a predictable location across pages:

3.2.6 Consistent Help: Level A

This requirement supports users who rely on consistent page structure, including those using assistive technologies.

Australia’s alignment with WCAG 2.2 AA dovetails with developments in Europe, where a new update to EN 301 549 (version 4.1.1), anticipated later in 2026, is expected to include WCAG 2.2 AA.

In a recent article, Deque’s Chief Information Accessibility Officer, Glenda Sims, noted that the “EN standard goes far beyond just websites, including a wide range of ICT products and services such as websites, software, mobile apps, electronic documents, hardware interfaces, and communications technologies.” Regarding EN 301 549 v4.1.1’s pending inclusion of WCAG 2.2. Level AA, Glenda summarized Deque’s guidance on these new developments as follows:

“Deque recommends targeting EN 301 549 + WCAG 2.2 AA now. Doing so helps you avoid redundant remediation work when the formal update lands in 2026. If your accessibility strategy is still focused only on websites, it’s time to widen your lens. And if your roadmap doesn’t account for alignment with EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2, that gap could become visible during procurement reviews, audits, or public reporting.”

The key takeaway here is, given that EN 301 549 does not yet cover 2.2, the best approach for your organization going forward is to test for both EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2 AA.

Let’s now move on to the second key update, the AHRC’s broadened definition of accessibility.

New guidelines for digital products and services

As stated by the AHRC, the “new guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services build on previous Commission guidance to reflect advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, facial recognition and other biometric technologies, mobile apps, social media, and self-service machines.”

The AHRC made clear its core motivation for introducing the new guidelines:

“Technology has evolved since the Disability Discrimination Act was introduced. The ways in which goods and services are accessed and developed has continued to change and we now predominantly operate in a digital environment.”

In the foreword to the new guidelines, Rosemary Kayess, Disability Discrimination Commissioner, speaks to why these updates to the Disability Discrimination Act are so vital:

“It’s not just about assistive technology or technology to enhance the lives of people with disability – it requires all technology to be designed with people with disability in mind and to be inclusive and responsive to the needs of people with disability so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of technology.”

The new guidelines are arranged into three chapters:

Overview of the Disability Discrimination Act and how it applies to digital goods and services.
Recommendations for organizations and businesses on how to provide equal access to digital goods and services.
Standards and guidelines that apply in Australia.

You can access the full guidelines online, but here are five actionable takeaways we’ve assembled for you:

Understand the full scope of what the guidelines cover.

The AHRC guidelines clarify that accessibility obligations extend beyond websites to include SaaS and PaaS platforms, AI-generated services, CAPTCHAs, two-factor authentication, extended reality, QR codes, mapping applications, and digital interfaces to physical devices and IoT. Understanding the full scope of your obligations is the foundation of a strong and sustainable accessibility program.

Put a formal plan in place when accessibility gaps exist.

An Alternate Access Plan documents how people with disabilities can access equivalent services while your remediation efforts are underway. Your plan should describe a comparable experience and be supported by a remediation roadmap with specific dates.

Address accessibility early in your development cycle.

The later accessibility issues are identified in the development cycle, the more costly they are to fix. By embedding accessibility across ideation, design, development, testing, and maintenance, your organization can lower risk, reduce costs, and deliver digital experiences that are usable by everyone.

Extend equal access responsibilities across your vendor ecosystem.

Your organization can contract out the provision of digital goods and services, but you cannot contract out your equal access responsibilities. Accessibility clauses and assurances should be included in every contract of service, protecting both the people you serve and your organization.

Ensure biometric authentication always includes an accessible alternative.

Wherever your organization uses biometric methods—fingerprints, face ID, retinal scanning, or voice ID—you should ensure that alternative identification and control options are available. These methods can create barriers for people with disabilities who may not be able to provide such information easily, or at all.

As a reminder, these changes are focused on compliance with the DDA and accordingly apply to public-facing digital services in both the public and private sectors.

The third update we’re going to explore, the introduction of the Digital Experience Policy by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), focuses explicitly on government services.

The Digital Experience Policy

The Digital Experience Policy, mandated by the Australian government, came into effect on January 1, 2025, and is supported by four standards that form the core requirements for government services.

The motivation for establishing the new policy mirrors that of the AHRC guidelines, in that the government acknowledges the need to keep pace with evolving technologies:

“Over the past decade, digital government services have expanded rapidly, providing new ways for people and businesses to access information, complete tasks, and seek assistance. However, a history of siloed delivery and uneven digital maturity has created fragmented service experiences. A coordinated focus on digital experience helps address these challenges. It ensures that services are designed and delivered in a way that is user-friendly, inclusive, and efficient.”

The new policy contains four standards:

Digital Service Standard: sets the requirements for designing and delivering digital government services.
Digital Inclusion Standard: sets the requirements for inclusive and accessible digital government experiences.
Digital Access Standard: sets the requirements for government agencies to reduce duplication of entry points, supporting unified access to digital government services for people and business.
Digital Performance Standard: sets the approach for monitoring government digital service performance and using insights to drive ongoing improvement.

You can find additional details about what the policy applies to on the Australian government website, but per the general guidance provided by the agency, the policy applies to informational and transactional digital services that are:

subject to the requirements of the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF)
new or replacement public-facing services
new staff-facing services
all existing public-facing services

What your business needs to do, and why

Given the rigor and comprehensive nature of Australia’s new policies and guidelines, it is essential that your organization take a proactive approach to digital accessibility, with a focus on four essential practices:

Shift left

Being proactive and shifting left means incorporating accessibility practices early in design and development and catching accessibility issues sooner. By shifting left, your organization will:

Save money: Fixing defects after they reach production is costly. 
Increase velocity: Catching defects sooner means less time spent fixing them later, which in turn allows increased velocity towards new features.
Create better products: Accessible products are better for all customers.

Shifting left to address accessibility issues early is efficient and cost-effective. Fixing those defects after they reach production can result in significant delays and far higher costs, as well as potential consumer complaints and potential regulatory inquiry.

Automate testing

With automated and AI-guided testing, design, development, and QA teams can find and fix up to 80% of issues by volume without needing deep accessibility expertise. That means fewer reworks, smoother handoffs, and fewer blockers down the line.

Provide role-specific training and tools

By providing training for individual roles across the software development lifecycle (SDLC), you’ll help your teams maintain momentum even when faced with more challenging problems. By providing specialized tools tailored to the unique needs of different roles, you can help ensure that everyone continues to achieve their specific goals. For example:

Designer: Avoid creating defects.
Developer: Get instant code feedback.
Tester: Standardize defect management.
Product owner: Visualize progress.
Accessibility program manager: Monitor performance.

Continuously monitor regulations

Your organization must continuously monitor the latest regulatory changes so it can swiftly adapt and maintain compliance. Your accessibility policy should automatically trigger an efficient and effective response when changes do occur. The updates we’ve highlighted in this article are just one example of how the regulatory and policy landscape can quickly evolve. Continuous monitoring is your most strategic way to ensure you stay ahead of changes that can impact your organization and introduce legal, financial, and reputational risk for your company.

The benefits of acting swiftly and proactively

As digital accessibility regulations and policies continue to evolve across the global stage, organizations must build and maintain sustainable accessibility programs to stay ahead. Depending on your current state of program maturity, your efforts in this regard will vary in complexity and investment. The good news is that the benefits of compliance and of offering accessible products and services are wide-ranging—in Australia and globally. These benefits include:

Expanded audience reach. You can successfully engage 5.5 million Australians with disabilities by aligning with WCAG 2.2.
Global alignment. By aligning with multi-national standards such as the EAA, you can open doors to broader markets.
Brand leadership. A focus on advanced digital accessibility solutions can drive cross-functional innovation, help you outperform competitors, and build lasting customer loyalty.
Reduced risk. Compliance with applicable regulations and policies, and conformance with relevant standards, can help limit your exposure to damaging legal, financial, and reputational risks.

Australia continues to take a leadership role in global digital accessibility, and whether your organization is in Australia, doing business with Australia, or simply keeping pace with global developments, now is the ideal time to ensure you’re taking the right steps to maintain long-term compliance and achieve your accessibility goals.

Contact Deque today for expert guidance on ensuring you have the right strategy and tools in place.

Aparna Pasi

Aparna Pasi is Vice President of Professional Services, APAC at Deque Systems, with nearly 20 years of experience in software engineering and accessibility consulting. She drives Deque’s mission by empowering organizations to build inclusive digital experiences, offering executive-level advisory and accessibility risk strategies to growth-stage companies. Aparna also contributes to the broader accessibility profession as an active WCAG Working Group Member at W3C. Throughout her career, she has led cross-cultural teams delivering accessible, compliant solutions across mobile and web technologies in industries such as banking, e-commerce, gaming, and e-learning. Aparna holds a Master of Science in Information Systems and is IAAP certified as CPWA, WAS, and CPACC.

All Posts by Aparna Pasi Website

Tags: accessibility compliance , Web Accessibility

Dear Axe-con community,

You did it!

You came, you shared, you taught, and you learned. Across more than 45 sessions, you asked and answered questions, shared and gained new insights, and connected with thousands upon thousands of other accessibility advocates and allies.

You literally made history, and the collective energy and momentum you’ve created will carry us all through one of the most important years in the history of this mission.

Because Axe-con 2026 is a two-day conference, we needed to cover a lot of ground. For day two, we got right down to business, with intensive sessions such as Accessible by Default: Scaling Design Systems with AI-Assisted Development, Scaling Accessibility in a Complex Enterprise: Lessons from Audits, Adoption, and Shared Practices, and Is Something Fundamental Still Missing From the Accessibility Ecosystem?.

Given how complex these topics can be, we’re fortunate to have charismatic presenters who are irrepressibly creative when it comes to bringing their material to life. Here’s just one delightful example, from Stéphanie Walter’s presentations on How to Convince People to Care and Invest in Accessibility:

Based on reactions to her keynote today, Haben Girma is certainly beloved for her ability to balance wit and wisdom as she shares her thoughts and perspectives. Here are just a handful of chat responses she inspired:

“Thank you so much, Haben!! Wonderful session!! My heart is full!!!”

“Great presentation, was laughing and crying.”

“Oh my gosh, yes, I could listen to Haben talk all day.”

“Who’s cutting onions again? :’) Loved this!”

By definition, the mission of digital accessibility focuses a great deal on technology and on removing barriers. And while this makes sense, Haben pointed out that the barriers that are most important to remove are not necessarily technological ones: “Technology has opened so many doors. Deafblindness is not my barrier. My biggest barrier is ableism.”

It’s not uncommon for some people to believe that the cost of ableism is one paid only by people with disabilities, but as Haben reminded us, that’s not the whole story:

As anyone who attends Axe-con knows, the quotable insights come quickly, and from multiple directions. It’s one of the many reasons why post-conference access to on-demand session recordings is such a valuable benefit!

Here are a few more of our day-two favorites:

daniel axecon26

With so many different sessions playing out across four different tracks, it’s a given that a lot of topics get covered. However, as we noted in our day-one post, certain themes do repeatedly emerge, and AI seemed to crop up just about everywhere.

One of the most striking examples was Jesse Beach’s session, Accessible by Default: Scaling Design Systems with AI-Assisted Development. Jesse is a software engineering manager at Meta, and she shared with the Axe-con community some pretty remarkable insights into how AI has had a profound impact on their accessibility work:

“We gave our AI coding tool examples of good accessibility fixes and applied it systematically across our codebase. The results: Our solve rate for accessibility label issues jumped to the 90% range—solving nearly all of them automatically. We’ve landed over 2,500 accessibility fixes this way, with another 5,000 queued. Months of work, completed in weeks. And here’s the key: The AI isn’t inventing new accessibility patterns. It’s applying our patterns—the ones defined in our Design System—consistently across the codebase.”

These are the kinds of insights that make Axe-con so worth it, because they’re the kinds of results that inspire action.

An immense amount of planning goes into creating Axe-con, and the action has been heavy for months. And, of course, there is a massive amount of action that happens during the event itself—especially in the chats.

It’s also important to remember that the action doesn’t stop when the presentations conclude. All you have to do is head over to the Axe-con Discord community, and you’ll immediately realize the conversations are most definitely continuing!

In addition to the general threads, every session has its own dedicated channel, and the presenters themselves often join in the discourse. Some of the conversations really get going! Lainey Feingold’s day-one session, The US Digital Accessibility Legal Update, inspired a thread that was nearly 40 comments long!

The Axe-con Discord community is an excellent place to directly witness how accessibility advocacy travels from the conference out into the larger world. This comment from someone who attended How to Convince People to Care and Invest in Accessibility is a great example:

“I loved this session! I have an opportunity to help a local branch of a national nonprofit improve its communications and website in a temporary part-time role. This session was inspiring and gave me so many ideas.”

There have been so many amazing comments in Discord, but all of us at Deque were especially moved by the one shared below. Not because the individual said such nice things about us (although we certainly appreciated that!), but because it’s such a clear distillation of why Axe-con and the Axe-con community matter so much.

We’re reprinting it in full because it reminds us that the impact of this event is measured not by what happens during the conference, but by what happens next:

“I just love this conference so much. I feel like I never get an opportunity to talk accessibility all day, and while this is only my second Axe-con, I just feel so appreciative of Deque for all their hard work and giving the accessibility community a safe place to learn from one another, advocate together, and more (while keeping it free and online!). My LinkedIn feed is finally free of bot-generated content because of all the great people from here that I now follow.

And thank you to everyone for entertaining us in the chat, keeping it REAL, and also for the spicy takes. Just as disability is dynamic and ever-changing, accessibility is as well, and we need all of us to continue to call people in before calling people out (I literally think of this from Kai’s talk last year at least once a day).”

Many of our moderators and presenters were wearing our new Axe-con shirts during their sessions, with the words “A11Y Vibes” across the chest, and it seems safe to say that those were the vibes we were all feeling. What an amazing couple of days it’s been!

If we could thank each and every one of you individually, we would. Because the truth is, while we talk a lot about “the community” as if it’s a single entity, it isn’t. It’s actually made up of tens of thousands of very special people, each of whom is essential to the success of this mission.

To wrap this up, we’re going to go all the way back to something Preety Kumar said during her opening remarks: “You are the ones who will take the insights from these two days and turn them into the momentum required to lead us through this new era.”

Are you ready?

Then let’s go!

test

Deque Systems

Deque is the global leader in digital accessibility, helping the world’s top enterprises build inclusive products, services, and experiences and achieve lasting compliance. Recognized by leading industry analysts for its AI-powered tools, comprehensive services, and developer-trusted solutions, Deque delivers the industry’s most complete accessibility offering. The Axe platform, anchored by Axe-core, has more than 3 billion downloads and 875,000 installed extensions, making it the global standard for accessibility testing. As a pioneer of people-first accessibility, Deque applies a human-in-the-loop approach that blends expert insight with AI innovation to advance its mission of digital equality for all.

All Posts by Deque Systems Website

Tags: Accessibility , axe-con , news , Web Accessibility

From the tactical and technical to the educational and inspirational, Axe-con really does cover it all.

What a first day!

Leading with the Axe Awards was a lovely way to set the tone and remind us all of something Katrina Lee later said with perfect clarity during the Shifting left: Building an ecosystem to scale accessibility: session:

If we had to pick one theme that resonated above all else during day one of Axe-con 2026, it was probably this one: “Accessibility happens because of people.”

Deque CEO and founder Preety Kumar spoke to this truth at the very beginning of her opening keynote, when she said, “The Axe-con experience is a testament to what happens when a community stops wishing for change, and starts demanding it. Your presence here is the heartbeat of this movement.”

And of course, it’s no surprise that this theme was the centerpiece of Dr. Rana El-Kaliouby’s keynote, Human-Centric AI for Digital Accessibility: Agency, Inclusion, and the Future of Interfaces:

As the founder of Affectiva, Rana El-Kaliouby pioneered the concept of “Emotion AI,” and her passion for this topic remains central to who she is and the work she does. Her message resonated with so many in our Axe-con community: “Building with empathy and emotional intelligence in mind is so key.” It was truly fascinating to experience her thinking on what human-centric AI means in the context of digital accessibility.

Speaking of community, we had ample evidence of just how truly global the Axe community really is, with guests joining from the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, Italy, Scotland, Spain, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, and many more. All told, we had just under 100 countries represented! In the US, we had attendees from literally all over the map—from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, and more to the east, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, and Colorado between the coasts, and California, Oregon, and Washington out west.

We mentioned the tactical-to-inspirational spectrum at the beginning of this post, and Preety’s opening remarks covered the whole range. She provided a 3-pillar approach to accessibility strategy …

Get leadership to buy in. Use legal momentum to move accessibility to a non-negotiable leadership priority.
Equip your teams. Strategy fails without literacy.
Get a baseline. You can’t fix what you haven’t measured.

… while also reinforcing for everyone at Axe-con that we possess the power to make positive change:

“Axe-con is the medium where knowledge-sharing becomes progress-making.”

Part of what makes Axe-con so powerful is precisely how inspiration translates into action, and as Preety pointed out, this is a remarkable moment for digital accessibility: “We have the tools, we have the standards, we have the deadlines. We just need the will to seize the moment.”

AI has quickly emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, and given AI’s transformative nature, it makes sense that it came up in multiple presentations. Attendees seemed in particular to enjoy how Anna Cook handled the topic in her session, Accessibility in the End of Deterministic Design (Again), with one attendee putting it perfectly:

Anna has spoken at Axe-con before, and her sessions are always highly regarded for insights like these:

As Preety and Deque CTO Dylan Barrel noted during their opening presentation, our new era of digital accessibility is being reshaped in real time by the twin forces of technology and regulation—specifically, AI and the European Accessibility Act (EAA)—and today’s session on EAA compliance was much anticipated.

In addition to an impressive array of regulatory detail and insight provided by Otto Sleeking (Partner, Taylor Wessing) and Moïse Akbaraly (Founder of Ipedis, a Deque partners), Matthew Luken (SVP, Global Programs & Regulatory Affairs; European Partnerships) offered some plainspoken guidance that should be of practical use to any organization navigating EAA complexities in different countries:

We mentioned above that Anna Cook is a returning Axe-con speaker. Another presenter we were thrilled to have back is the inimitable Kai Wong, whose presentation on how to “ditch the dull” and “craft accessibility presentations that inspire action and model inclusive, accessible best practices” was a masterclass in doing exactly what she set out to help us all do. And in addition to being everything but dull, her session was also full of really valuable perspective:

Actionable guidance was another theme that was prevalent throughout all of today’s presentations, and it was something Peter Bossley (Sr. Manager, Accessibility, Thomson Reuters) explicitly brought up during Integrating Axe for automated testing in a distributed engineering environment:

It was fascinating to see all the ways human-and-AI collaboration came up in different presentations. Everyone who attended Sam Smith’s presentation on Proactive Inclusion: Embedding Accessibility into the AI Revolution at Coinbase was particularly impressed and grateful for how Sam patiently took everyone through the do’s and don’ts of how to make this collaboration a successful one:

Sam is the Senior Staff Accessibility Lead at Coinbase, and when he said, “I highly recommend you treat AI as a collaborator, focus on refining prompts through continuous feedback,” it was clear he was coming from a place of deep organizational and personal experience.

Personal experience is an essential component of accessibility success—a point made brilliantly by Angela Young (title) during their presentation on The Myth of Neutral Design: How Accessibility Gets Lost in Objective Systems:

Day one of Axe-con 2026 is an experience tens of thousands of us from around the world have now lived and enjoyed together. If you were in attendance, you know that what we’ve captured in this post only barely scratches the surface of all the brilliance that was on offer today.

The beauty of Axe-con registration is that you’ll be able to rewatch everything that inspired and moved you, and watch the sessions you weren’t able to make for the first time. And if you registered and weren’t able to attend today, you can watch today’s sessions on demand later, and you can join us live tomorrow!

We can’t wait for it to be day two, and we’re looking forward to everyone joining us again. Until then, we’ll leave you with a wonderful reminder from The Accessible Design Specialists Playbook, presented by Pawel Wodkowski (Lead Designer, Atlassian):

That’s right, folks, accessibility is a team sport, and as we sign off from day one of Axe-con 2026, what else can we say but “Go team!”

Deque Systems

All Posts by Deque Systems Website

Tags: Accessibility , axe-con , news , Web Accessibility

Listen to this article

Axe-con is about the people. The global digital accessibility community. The change agents and progress-makers who are tirelessly advancing the mission of digital equality.

The tactical focus of Axe-con may be on knowledge-sharing, but the vibe is all about connection and celebration. You’ll feel that vibe throughout the conference, and especially when the Axe-con awards are revealed—a moment that is always one of the most anticipated experiences of the year.

The Axe Awards represent a very special opportunity to honor and celebrate the people and organizations doing notably impactful work in accessibility. We have four awards to present: the Accessibility Culture Award, the Accessibility at Scale Award, the Longstanding Commitment to Accessibility Award, and the Jim Thatcher Lifetime Achievement Award.

Are you ready to celebrate? Let’s meet our Axe Award winners!

ADP: 2026 Accessibility Culture Award

Accessibility culture deepens and expands as inclusion is shared across teams. It’s not about one group of specialists. It’s about the entire organization unifying around the mission, embracing positive change, and taking the right tactical steps to achieve meaningful transformation.

Deque recognizes ADP as the 2026 Accessibility Culture Award recipient and honors Kelsey Hall’s leadership, as well as the tireless work of the ADP Accessibility Team, including Yulia Sarviro, Gouri Khanvilkar, Stephanie Brooks, KJ Schmidt, Julia Cotton, and Dawn Schakett, in making accessibility part of everyday work across the organization and building a true culture of accessibility.

At ADP, accessibility begins with strong executive sponsorship, supported by policies that establish accessibility as a quality requirement. ADP has embedded accessibility into how teams plan, build, and improve their software, shifting from reactive remediation to a standard development practice. The organization reinforces this approach through transparent reporting, an annual roadmap, and a maturity model that clarifies responsibilities and expectations for application teams. This success is in large part due to the many product managers, designers, engineers, and quality teams who implement these best practices into their work each day.

Education is also central to sustaining this culture. Employees complete accessibility training through Deque University and gain the skills to design and develop accessible experiences independently, expanding ownership beyond a single team. Regular reporting emphasizes progress, completion rates are tracked, and individuals and teams are empowered to apply new skills in real time.

Through sustained leadership, workforce education, and operational accountability, ADP has made accessibility not just part of how the company operates, but part of its culture. The 2026 Accessibility Culture Award recognizes ADP’s impact and achievements.

Nestlé: 2026 Accessibility at Scale Award

Each year, Deque presents the Accessibility at Scale Award to recognize an organization that expands a sustainable accessibility program across its global operations.

Deque is proud to recognize Nestlé as the recipient of the 2026 Accessibility at Scale Award. The company set extremely ambitious goals, and then delivered against them with remarkable speed and efficiency by prioritizing collaboration and coordination across teams and stakeholders.

Managing a broad and complex portfolio of brand and market websites worldwide, Nestlé implemented a coordinated model that balanced centralized visibility with distributed ownership. Using a combination of Deque tools and training resources, the company maintained portfolio-level oversight while bringing accessibility earlier into development workflows and enabling teams to build accessible experiences independently.

The impact was clear: accessibility improved across Nestlé’s web properties while overall accessibility maturity strengthened across the organization. Through unwavering commitment to their goals, they demonstrated that accessibility can scale across a complex digital ecosystem.

For achieving meaningful progress at a global level, Deque is pleased to recognize Nestlé as the recipient of the 2026 Accessibility at Scale Award.

Eli Lilly and Company: 2026 Longstanding Commitment to Accessibility Award

Deque is proud to honor Eli Lilly and Company as the 2026 recipient.

Eli Lilly and Company approaches digital accessibility holistically, removing barriers for both employees and customers. The company is committed to creating digital experiences that are easy to use and accessible for all people, regardless of ability or technology.

By establishing digital accessibility as an essential component of everything from customer experience and health literacy to company culture and employer brand, Lilly is able to launch and sustain initiatives that foster cross-functional alignment and secure multi-year funding, helping to ensure continued progress.

As a company built on core values of respect for people, integrity, and excellence, Lilly holds its accessibility strategy to the same standard. By setting clear expectations and accountability across teams, accessibility is treated with the same rigor as other critical business priorities.

Through sustained leadership and clear standards, Lilly demonstrates its commitment to expanding access and participation for everyone. By taking a holistic approach and committing to long-term, sustainable success, the company is ensuring that digital accessibility remains a consistent priority.

For these reasons and more, we are honored to recognize Eli Lilly and Company as the recipient of Deque’s 2026 Longstanding Commitment to Accessibility Award.

Alice Wong: 2026 Jim Thatcher Lifetime Achievement Award

The Axe-con Lifetime Achievement Award is presented posthumously to Alice Wong, a visionary leader whose work transformed how the world understands disability, power, and community.

Alice was not simply an advocate for accessibility. She reshaped the narrative. Through the Disability Visibility Project and her groundbreaking books, including Disability Visibility, she elevated first-person stories of disabled people and insisted that disabled voices lead conversations about policy, design, technology, and culture.

She was fierce. She challenged institutions. She refused tokenism. She named injustice clearly and without apology. And in doing so, she created space for others to speak and to be heard.

Yet alongside that fierceness was something equally powerful: joy. Alice made it clear that the hardship many people with disabilities face is not inherent to disability; it is the result of exclusion, inaccessibility, and ableism. And still, she insisted that joy, creativity, humor, and community belong fully to people with disabilities now; not after the world “gets it right.”

She encouraged all of us not to wait for a perfect world before claiming moments of happiness. Justice, work, and joy were not opposites in her life; they were companions.

In February 2025, Alice delivered a keynote at Axe-con that many of us will never forget. Just eight months before her passing, she stood exactly where she had always stood: amplifying others, challenging systems, and calling us to do better.

Her legacy is not only the work she produced. It is the voices she amplified. The leaders she encouraged. The community she strengthened. And it is the example she gave us of how to speak with clarity, center disabled voices, embrace joy without minimizing injustice, and continue the work even when progress feels slow.

For a lifetime of transformative impact, unapologetic truth-telling, and radical joy, we honor Alice Wong.

And we encourage everyone to accept the responsibility that comes with honoring Alice. Because the greatest way we can honor Alice is not with our words, but with our actions; by refusing to let accessibility be delayed, diluted, or dismissed. Her vision was clear. Our task now is to make accessibility a permanent reality.

Looking ahead

As Deque founder and CEO Preety Kumar has noted, there is a massive groundswell of energy happening in the world of digital accessibility.

Profoundly impactful regulatory advancements, such as the European Accessibility Act, are ensuring that digital accessibility is now truly a global mission. Innovative technological developments, such as agentic AI, are making it possible to achieve global digital accessibility at scale.

However, as exciting as this moment is, and as exhilarating as it is to think about the milestones 2026 has in store for us, we must remember that regulation and technology alone don’t drive progress—people do. And that’s what the Axe Awards are all about: celebrating the people who seize every moment to drive this mission forward. Today, we celebrate our four awardees. Every day, we celebrate you all. Thank you for the work that you do. You are making a difference.

Deque Systems

All Posts by Deque Systems Website

Tags: axe-con

Listen to this article

Axe MCP Server is now included in Deque’s Axe DevTools for Web bundle at no additional cost, giving our customers immediate access to AI-powered remediation capabilities. With Axe MCP Server, you can enhance development workflows and start fixing accessibility issues earlier, empowering your teams to move faster, minimize rework, and scale accessibility with confidence. First introduced at Axe-con 2025, we’re excited to announce that Axe MCP Server is now available to all Axe DevTools for Web customers.

“We’re seeing amazing feedback from customers who have already adopted Axe MCP Server in their IDE. With Axe MCP Server as part of Axe DevTools for Web, developers can contribute to accessibility earlier in the software development lifecycle, all while using existing tools and their preferred AI coding agent.” —Dylan Barrell, CTO, Deque

Meet developers where they are and empower them with trusted guidance

When accessibility issues aren’t addressed early in development, they slip into production, where they’re harder and more expensive to fix, and where compliance risk increases. With Axe MCP Server, teams can address digital accessibility earlier by bringing trusted Axe expertise directly into AI coding agents as part of existing development workflows. They can analyze and test code, receive guidance on fixes, and validate accessibility directly where development happens.

Designed to work within the tools developers already use, Axe MCP Server combines AI-powered analysis and testing with proven accessibility remediation guidance, making it effective for team members of all experience levels. It’s quick to implement and delivers tailored guidance without requiring deep accessibility expertise.

Align with developer workflows and increase tool adoption

Axe MCP Server works seamlessly with any tool that supports the Model Context Protocol, including GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, VS Code, and more. Fixes happen where development happens, through flexible coding-agent integrations and by configuring the development environment to call Axe MCP Server to automatically validate accessibility fixes—no extra steps required. This means more automation, less friction, and greater adoption by your teams.

Get trusted fixes with real testing and remediation guidance

Early accessibility fixes require testing real, rendered experiences. Through its direct connection to the Axe Platform, Axe MCP Server brings enterprise-grade accuracy and real browser testing into development workflows. Plus, it connects to Deque University’s comprehensive knowledge base, providing the industry’s most trusted, standards-aligned guidance.

Analyze, remediate, and validate with one AI prompt

With a single AI prompt, coding agents signal Axe MCP Server to analyze and test code, offer remediation, and validate accessibility fixes. By combining code analysis with real browser testing, teams can close the accessibility testing loop sooner and with greater confidence.

The impact: trusted accessibility fixes earlier, aligned with your team’s workflow and tools

With Axe MCP Server as part of Axe DevTools for Web, your teams can deliver accessibility fixes right from the start, rather than during QA or in production, without changing how they work. You’ll save time and money and lay the foundations for an accessibility program that’s built to scale.

And this is just the beginning. Axe MCP Server will power AI agents across the software development lifecycle, bringing Axe Platform features, such as automated intelligent guided tests and advanced automated rules, directly to your preferred AI agents. This will increase automated coverage so you can address more accessibility issues earlier and faster.

Whether you’re already using Axe DevTools for Web or exploring it for the first time, you can request a demo today to learn how Axe MCP Server fits into your workflows.

Harris Schneiderman

Harris Schneiderman is a web developer with a strong passion for digital equality. He works at Deque Systems as the Senior Product Manager of axe DevTools building awesome web applications. He wrote Cauldron (Deque's pattern library), Dragon Drop, and is the lead developer on axe DevTools Pro. When he is not at work, he still finds time to contribute to numerous open source projects.

All Posts by Harris Schneiderman

Tags: axe MCP Server , Axe Platform , news

Listen to this article

I recently had the opportunity to deliver a keynote, titled “Roadmap checkups: Ensure resiliency (PDF),” at the IAAP EU and Vially Accessibility Event in Dublin. My focus was on the importance of accessibility program roadmaps for long-term program success; specifically, I addressed how your roadmap must:

Include a 3–5 year forward view
Emphasize tasks with sufficient lead time for success
Be robust, flexible, and positive
Operate at an enterprise level
Be rooted in measurement

In this post, I’ll go into greater detail on how to ensure that you’re optimizing your accessibility roadmaps. I’ll begin by explaining why checking in on your roadmap now is so critical.

You can experience my full keynote in this video:

Why are roadmaps and their checkups so important?

When organizations come to Deque for strategic consulting, one of the questions we ask is whether they have a 3–5-year accessibility program roadmap published at the enterprise or companywide level. In 2025, 50% of our respondents said that they didn’t have this type of roadmap. For those who did, only 15% said they’d reviewed it within the last 12 months. On a slightly more positive note, 25% said they’d reviewed it in the last 24 months.

This indicates that while many accessibility teams are working, they’re doing so without a documented plan or are unable to check in on the plans they do have. This leads us to believe that many organizations are in reactive mode and struggling to get ahead and escape the break-fix cycle.

We often encountered programs that were less mature than their organizations believed they were. To make our assessments, we use Deque’s Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM), which features a ratings scale that runs from “not started” to “optimized”:

0 – Not started

1 – Informed

2 – Defined

3 – Repeatable

4 – Monitor and Control

5 – Optimized

Through our analysis, we found that 95% of the accessibility programs we assessed were at maturity levels 0–2, while only 1% were firmly in level 3, the point at which a program shifts from reactive to proactive.

What we also saw in the data is that successful programs have roadmaps that drive maturity, with program administrators constantly checking to ensure they’re on track.

You need a mature accessibility program

Global accessibility is evolving rapidly. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act represents a once-in-a-generation regulatory inflection point that is all but certain to be a catalyst for similar regulatory actions around the world. In short, no matter where your organization is based, digital accessibility must be in your plans. Success means more growth and less risk. The alternative is fines and lawsuits, restrictions and penalties, exposure and brand damage.

To succeed, you must have a mature program. Compliance alone will fail at scale. There are simply too many interdependencies, from complex supply chains, self-service technologies, and mobile applications to PDF documentation, value chains, and more. Does your roadmap take all of this into consideration? The organizations that thrive will have accessibility built into every product, platform, process, and experience.

This can be a monumental endeavor. However, with a well-thought-out, published roadmap, your organization can achieve the program maturity needed for long-term success.

What you can do

There are several things you can be doing right now to optimize your roadmap and advance your program.

Analyze your roadmap

Roadmaps share common themes. They are aspirational, not inspirational. They incorporate sufficient lead time for success. And they cover aspects such as:

Resilience. Your roadmap should be resilient enough to embrace emerging technologies such as AI. This includes having tasks to validate AI, training AI with responsible models, and leveraging AI where possible, including for advanced automated testing.
Reporting. Your enterprise should be able to support all required regulatory reporting, including conformance reporting and nonconformance reporting. Many monitoring bodies do require you to submit a roadmap to conformity as part of your nonconformance reporting.
Testing. You need to ensure that you’re testing to the right standard for the countries that you’re serving. Unfortunately, we see many companies attempting to claim conformance to EAA when they are only testing to WCAG 2.1 AA.
Planning. You need to allocate ample time to ensure you can uplevel to EN 301 549 version 4.1.1 in the spring of 2026.
Assessment. You should have a working definition of what “good” looks like in practice across your ecosystem for all personas, including vendors, buyers, and regulators.
Management. Are you clearly defining roles and responsibilities using the RACI model to ensure everyone understands how they contribute?

Use proven methodologies from change management and motivation disciplines

Successful change management efforts use strategies like the following:

Better goals through positivity. People prefer positive goals over negative statements. Use language like “Publish content that everyone can access,” or “Create documents that work with assistive technologies,” instead of “Don’t publish inaccessible content.”
Specific yet flexible. People respond well to specificity, but they also appreciate flexibility. Rather than “Training must be complete by January 31,” use language like” Training should be aligned with individual schedules and completed within the first quarter.”
Success as motivation. You can use evidence of success to increase motivation. Instead of “We have 100 documents to fix,” lead with “10 of our most trafficked documents are accessible.”
Smaller is better. Focus on several smaller tasks instead of one big task. Instead of “We will fix all of our documents this year,” you can reframe the effort as, “We will aim to fix 10 documents from our inventory per month.”

Perhaps the most important thing about success is that you communicate it. Share the good news! Don’t just remove tick boxes or remove completed items from your list—report on them, show them in dashboards, and shout out your kudos wherever and however you can!

Engage the entire enterprise

It takes the entire enterprise working in concert to run a strong accessibility program. The effort must be frictionless, and every department must have a common approach and objective.

When programs struggle to mature—when they lose support, stall out, or backslide—it’s often because teams or departments are working in silos. For digital accessibility to be successful, everyone must work together. This goes well beyond the SDLC. Legal, procurement, regulatory reporting, risk and governance, learning and development, customer support, corporate communications—everyone must be aligned.

To achieve this alignment, you must socialize your roadmap before publication and recognize that this is a continuous activity. It’s how you ensure your roadmap is relatable to your colleagues and considers your entire organization’s inter- and intra-dependencies. Your roadmap should also be easy for anyone in your company to find. We recommend making it a key navigational item on your program’s portal or intranet. By making your roadmap easy to find, as well as its metrics for success, you provide one more avenue for the entire enterprise to be engaged.

Use common frameworks and methodologies

It is likely that your organization already uses SMART goals and the RACI model. Your accessibility program roadmap should also employ these models. It’s a way to avoid issues with measurability and competing definitions of success. It also establishes and fosters accountability, with teams having clearly defined roles and clear alignment with key objectives. To succeed within the business, you need to play the business game well!

Measure and report on everything you can, including program maturity

You are your own PR engine. Don’t be shy about broadcasting your achievements. Report every statistic you can, including overall program maturity. And remember, health measurements—completed using maturity models—can play a critical role in roadmap planning, success assessments, and storytelling.

Next steps

Deque has helped countless organizations increase their enterprise maturity model score using the approaches I’ve outlined above. It’s a proven framework, and if you have a roadmap in place, now is the perfect time to examine where and how you can optimize it for long-term success.

If you don’t yet have a roadmap in place, you can easily get the data you need to create one with our free digital accessibility action plan resource. It only takes a few minutes, and you’ll receive:

A personalized action plan based on your organization’s current state
Role-specific recommendations for designers, developers, and QA teams
Clear ideas and next steps you can implement immediately
Crucial advice across all phases of your SDLC

All you need to do is answer a quick series of questions about your accessibility practices, and we’ll generate a customized plan and deliver it straight to your inbox. Get your digital accessibility action plan today.

If you’re in Europe or doing business there, accessibility program maturity is already a mission-critical need for your organization. If you’re outside of Europe, now’s the time to get ahead, because heightened digital accessibility requirements are sure to be on the map for you as well.

Matthew Luken

Matthew Luken is a Senior Vice President and Chief Architect at Deque, consulting with companies of all sizes, markets, and industries to grow their digital accessibility programs. Matthew also provides thought leadership to advance the profession and practice of digital accessibility and mature and maximize operations, processes, and outcomes. Prior to Deque, Matthew built and ran U.S. Bank’s digital accessibility program, providing accessibility design reviews, compliance testing services, defect remediation consulting, and more. The program leveraged over 1,500 implementations of Deque’s Axe Auditor and nearly 4,000 implementations of Axe DevTools and Deque University. Matthew also served as Head of UXDesign’s Accessibility Center of Practice, where he was responsible for supporting the digital accessibility team’s mission. As a digital accessibility, user experience, and service design expert, Matthew has worked with over 500 brands, covering every vertical and market. He also actively mentors digital designers and accessibility professionals.

All Posts by Matthew Luken Website

Tags: accessibility program , accessibility strategy

Listen to this article

The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) set an ambitious goal: a barrier-free Canada by 2040.

For the Canadian federal government and federally regulated organizations, that goal is now governed by the Phase 1 Digital Technologies Regulations.

This creates a situation where deadlines intersect with a clearly defined national ICT accessibility standard. If you’re an executive, CAT leader, or legal stakeholder, this is either operational risk or operational advantage, depending on how prepared you are.

The ACA established the governance structure, and Canada’s adoption of CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 established the technical precision. Together, they create a measurable compliance environment. However, the timelines for the federal government and the federally regulated private sector are not identical.

As we examine key digital accessibility compliance deadlines in this post, I’ll make clear why that distinction matters.

What you need to know now

The ACA deadlines

Federally regulated organizations were required to publish their first accessibility plans between 2022 and 2023. With that phase completed, many federally regulated private-sector organizations then filed their second accessibility progress report on June 1, 2025. The next annual progress report for those organizations is due June 1, 2026.

Accessibility plans must be updated every three years. Organizations that published initial plans in 2022 will begin filing updates in 2025–2026, with others following in 2027. These updates must demonstrate measurable progress, not just continued commitment. That means clear evidence of barriers removed and systems improved, with accessibility embedded into operations.

Annual progress reports continue between plan updates. They are public documents describing actions taken, feedback received, and work still outstanding. If your next report is due within the year, your operational priorities should already reflect this.

The technical standard

While the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) created the overall reporting and accountability framework, it formally identifies CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 as the technical benchmark for measuring digital accessibility (as of December 2025).

CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 was published in May 2024 as a National Standard of Canada. It is a direct adoption of the European standard EN 301 549 (v3.2.1). EN 301 549 includes WCAG 2.1 Level AA, plus additional unique requirements. The EN standard goes far beyond just websites, including a wide range of ICT products and services such as websites, software, mobile apps, electronic documents, hardware interfaces, and communications technologies. In short, federal digital accessibility expectations are grounded in a broad and comprehensive technical standard.

While CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 v3.2.1 currently includes WCAG 2.1 AA, an update (EN 301 549 v4.1.1) to include WCAG 2.2 AA is on the horizon. Because the differences between WCAG 2.1 AA and WCAG 2.2 are minimal—only six new success criteria—Deque recommends targeting EN 301 549 + WCAG 2.2 AA now. Doing so helps you avoid redundant remediation work when the formal update lands in 2026.

If your accessibility strategy is still focused only on websites, it’s time to widen your lens. And if your roadmap doesn’t account for alignment with EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2, that gap could become visible during procurement reviews, audits, or public reporting.

A multi-year convergence of reporting and enforcement

As we look ahead, we can see where the pressure begins to build. Federal government and federally regulated organizations are navigating a multi-year convergence of governance reporting and technical enforcement. Let’s examine the details.

Phase 1 enforcement: The 2027 deadline. As reporting cycles continue, the new Digital Technologies Accessibility Regulations (Phase 1) introduce enforceable technical obligations. By December 5, 2027:

Accessibility training. All obligated entities (federal government and federally regulated private sector) must complete mandatory accessibility training for all staff involved in digital technologies.
Accessible websites and web apps
- Federal government only: Must ensure websites and web applications fully conform to the ICT Standard (EN 301 549) and publish their accessibility statement.

Phase 1 enforcement: The 2028 deadline. By December 5, 2028:

Websites: Public-facing websites and web apps must conform to the standard
- Applies to federally regulated orgs with 500+ employees (large), and 100-499 employees (small).
Digital documents: Digital documents (like PDFs) must conform to the standard
- For this phase, this requirement does apply to the federal government and large federally regulated orgs, but does not yet apply to medium orgs (100-499 employees).
Mobile apps: New public-facing apps launched on or after this date must be accessible.
- For this phase, this requirement does apply to the federal government and large federally regulated orgs, but does not yet apply to medium orgs (100-499 employees).
Legacy apps (existing before this date) must undergo a conformity assessment
- For this phase, this requirement does apply to the federal government and large federally regulated orgs, but does not yet apply to medium orgs (100-499 employees).
Procurement and statements: You must begin demanding “clean” Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) in procurement and publish your detailed accessibility statement
- For this phase, this requirement does apply to the federal government and large federally regulated orgs, but does not yet apply to medium orgs (100-499 employees).

As we closely compare how obligations and requirements differ by organization size, one question that emerges is whether there will be a Phase 2 requiring medium-sized organizations to meet the same requirements that large organizations are required to meet in Phase 1.

At Deque, we believe this will hit medium-sized organizations in a future Phase 2, despite no deadline having been set yet. However, because medium-sized businesses are already subject to the 2027 training deadline and may cross the 500-employee threshold in the interim, our strategic advice is to treat the ICT Standard (EN 301 549) as inevitable—even if there is no hard legal deadline yet.

Governance plus technical alignment drives success

Publishing plans and annual progress reports satisfies the structure of the ACA. It demonstrates that governance mechanisms are in place. But governance alone does not prove accessibility is operational.

Without alignment to CAN/ASC-EN 301 549, those plans and reports are difficult to defend. With a well-defined ICT accessibility standard, evaluation shifts from general commitment to measurable conformance.

This is where many organizations underestimate the lift. Accessibility cannot sit in a policy document or a compliance binder. It must be reflected in how technology is selected, designed, built, tested, and maintained.

That means embedding accessibility into procurement requirements and vendor contracts. It means aligning development workflows and design systems to the national ICT standard. It means validating against defined criteria, not informal checklists. And it means building internal competency through training and clear accountability.

If accessibility is not integrated into operational processes, reporting cycles will expose that gap. So remember, strong governance makes accessibility visible, while technical alignment makes it defensible.

The importance of being proactive

Remediating enterprise platforms, document repositories, and software systems is not a short-cycle effort. Embedding accessibility into procurement, vendor contracts, and SDLC practices requires executive sponsorship and budget alignment.

Organizations that begin now can spread this work across fiscal cycles. Those that wait until 2027 or 2028 will face compressed timelines, much higher remediation costs, and the risk of public reporting gaps.

Ultimately, this is about how seriously your organization takes digital accessibility, and how quickly it responds to enterprise-level changes.

You can approach these new reporting and enforcement cycles reactively, scrambling to demonstrate improvement, or strategically, aligning now to CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 and building a sustainable roadmap.

Strategic organizations plan ahead and avoid expensive, crisis-driven execution.

Next steps

The Accessible Canada Act created recurring accountability. The adoption of CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 created technical clarity. The Digital Technologies Accessibility Regulations introduce enforceable digital obligations beginning in 2027 and 2028. Together, they raise the maturity expectation for digital accessibility across federally regulated sectors.

If your roadmap is not yet aligned to Canada’s national ICT accessibility standard, and your next reporting or regulatory milestone falls within the next 6–24 months, now is the time to act.

You can schedule a strategic consultation today to pressure-test your timeline-to-compliance and ensure your next reporting cycle reflects measurable, defensible progress.

Glenda Sims

All Posts by Glenda Sims Website

Tags: ACA , Accessible Canada Act , EN 301 549 , Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Listen to this article

Will AI be our savior or our downfall? It’s a question everyone seems to be asking, and opinions differ wildly.

At one extreme, you’ve got claims that AI will perform every task that needs doing, creating wealth, replacing work, nurturing a new leisure class, solving all our pesky global problems, and essentially saving the human race. At the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got a very different AI reality: one where models regularly hallucinate, fail at seemingly basic tasks, and provide dangerously erroneous information.

At Deque, my colleagues and I are taking a responsible, human-centric approach to AI, and we’re excited about its power to drive accessibility innovation. In a recent post introducing some new features, my colleague Harris Schneiderman explained AI’s importance to digital accessibility:

“To solve AI-created accessibility challenges, you need AI-powered accessibility solutions, and that’s exactly what Deque is providing.”

The reality is that AI adoption is accelerating so rapidly that companies can’t build data centers fast enough to keep up. What used to take ten developers an entire day can now be done by one developer in an hour.

However, when things like privacy, security, and accessibility aren’t integrated into workflows, products and services are far more likely to ship with serious issues. Which means legal risk goes up. Way up.

Digital accessibility has long existed in an environment of complaints, demand letters, litigation, and settlements. Some of this activity is strategic—lawsuits designed to encourage businesses to get and stay accessible. Other actions are predatory: “drive-by” lawsuits designed to force quick cash settlements.

Now, with the rise of AI, there’s a new game in town, as people are using AI to file pro se lawsuits (lawsuits in which someone represents themselves).

AI-powered pro se accessibility lawsuits

There are many reasons someone might file a pro se lawsuit. Sometimes people believe they’re best equipped to present their own case. More often, however, it’s to save money on legal fees. Litigation is complicated, time-consuming, and out of reach for many people.

At least, it used to be.

ChatGPT and similar tools are changing that. According to Seyfarth, federal pro se ADA Title III lawsuits are up 40% in 2025 compared to 2024, with federal pro se FHA lawsuits up 69% during the same period. What accounts for the increase? As Seyfarth notes, “Most pro se litigants we encounter are using AI tools to help them litigate.”

AI is reshaping digital accessibility from every direction at once, creating new complications in the process. AI-powered coding tools help developers build faster, but much of that new content fails basic accessibility standards. AI is becoming essential for identifying and fixing accessibility barriers at scale, but not all AI tools are equally reliable or grounded in accessibility expertise. And now, AI is making it easier to file accessibility lawsuits, even though legal pressure alone doesn’t guarantee accessible experiences.

So what role should AI play in digital accessibility? What should businesses be doing to get ahead of legal risk? How do you reduce legal exposure while creating better products for the 1.3 billion people worldwide who have disabilities?

Why proactive accessibility is the right approach

The merits of any given lawsuit depend largely on intention. One lawsuit might get filed because a company continues to neglect its accessibility issues and it feels like the only way to instigate positive change, while another might be a predatory attempt to force a quick financial settlement. The reality on the receiving end is the same either way—a lawsuit to contend with.

The use of AI in pro se litigation introduces yet another challenge. A legal novice using AI is likely to be unfamiliar with litigation and courtroom proceedings. A situation like this could increase duration and cost as much as 50% as the individual attempts to navigate and negotiate in a complex federal court situation.

The key to navigating any of these situations is remembering that the ultimate goal is digital accessibility. Even the best-intentioned lawsuits are only a means to that end. The best approach is one where lawsuits aren’t necessary in the first place. Instead of reacting to demand letters and lawsuits, you can prevent them entirely by building accessibility into your products from the start and maintaining compliance over the long term. And the good news is that AI can drive this kind of proactive digital accessibility.

When we talk about proactive accessibility, we mean building accessibly from the start—combining AI-powered testing with human expertise to give developers speed that doesn’t create technical debt, to give businesses compliance that enables rather than hinders innovation, and to ensure people with disabilities have equal access to digital products, services, and experiences.

The key to this approach is staying focused on outcomes rather than mechanisms. This shifts the question from “are these lawsuits bad?” to “what actually creates accessible digital experiences?” Lawsuits—pro se or otherwise—are a symptom and response to a problem, not the problem itself.

How to achieve proactive digital accessibility

Proactive accessibility requires investment and culture change. It’s a practice shift that organizations must commit to. But when you contrast different approaches, the effort is clearly worth it.

From break-fix cycles to shift-left practices

Shifting left means moving accessibility testing to earlier in your development process. The immediate goal is to find and fix accessibility issues sooner, so you can save time, money, and effort on costly remediation downstream.

Too often, teams get stuck in a break-fix cycle, building and releasing new products while simultaneously fixing products that come back with accessibility issues. From an organizational standpoint, it’s inefficient and expensive. For developers, it’s frustrating and disheartening.

By shifting left, you increase efficiency, reduce issues, and free up your teams to focus on innovation and building more and better products.

From short-term settlements to long-term solutions

I’ve written previously about the real costs of accessibility litigation, examining whether it makes financial sense to opt for a quick settlement—especially when the lawsuit feels predatory (meaning it’s about extracting a financial settlement rather than encouraging the company to become accessible).

A well-known example cited in a recent Wall Street Journal article involved a seemingly small settlement of $4,950. But the legal fees? Nearly $40,000. That puts the real cost at approximately $45,000—more than twice what it would have cost to address the accessibility issues once and for all, an effort estimated at only $13,000.

While a short-term settlement might initially seem like the easy way out, it’s actually a recipe for trouble. Not only will you pay more than you think the first time, but you’re likely to be paying again soon when new accessibility issues arise. And they will arise, if you’re not taking proactive steps to prevent them.

From reactive tactics to proactive strategies

The most effective way to reduce costs and limit legal risk is to implement a comprehensive digital accessibility program where you’re not only finding and fixing issues sooner, but you’re preventing them from happening in the first place.

Shifting left is part of this, but there’s more to it than that. You need to integrate the right tools, implement role-based training, enable cross-functional collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and strike the right balance between automated and manual testing to ensure you’re making the most of your teams’ skill sets. Change management of this kind isn’t always easy, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges. Your costs go down, your reputation goes up, and your products get better and more inclusive—the most important goal of all.

Next steps

At this point, it’s already become a cliché: AI is not going away. To which I say, good, because there are very powerful and positive things that can be achieved with this technology. However, as I’ve hopefully made clear, there are real risks as well.

AI is all about speed and scale. In digital accessibility litigation, we’re seeing the same disruptive acceleration that’s happening everywhere else. What companies need to understand—as the Seyfarth numbers make clear—is that AI-powered lawsuits will increase in frequency and are likely to be predatory. Trying to defend against them is going to be costly, and opting to settle even more so.

The only viable way forward is to get and stay accessible now, before you’re exposed to litigation. As Harris’s quote makes clear, solving AI-driven challenges requires AI-driven solutions. Or, as I put it in another recent article, “the best defense is a good offense.”

Reach out to our strategic experts at Deque today. We can help you implement a proactive approach to digital accessibility that maximizes benefits while limiting risk.

Greg Williams

Greg Williams is the Senior Vice President & Chief Architect at Deque Systems, Inc. He oversees program development and operations for some of Deque’s largest customers, helping them to build mature, sustainable accessibility programs.

Prior to joining Deque, Greg spent more than 30 years in the information technology field focusing on large, complex program operations for Fortune 40 companies and before that served in the United States Navy for a number of years. He had great success as the founder and owner of the Digital Accessibility Program Office for State Farm Insurance, building their practice from the ground up into one of the highest maturity level programs in the world between 2013 and 2018.

Greg has always been passionate about diversity and inclusion and has extended this passion to the disability and accessibility community - joining Deque Systems in 2018 to help launch and mature similarly successful programs across the globe.

All Posts by Greg Williams Website

Tags: ADA Compliance , lawsuit , Web Accessibility