Dare To Compare: Accessibility-Focused Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is a valuable tool for understanding market expectations and identifying opportunities for innovation, yet accessibility is often overlooked, limiting insights from people who use assistive technologies, accessibility settings, and alternative forms of interaction.

Using real-world examples from customer-facing mobile apps, self-service kiosks, and crew-facing tools, the McDonald’s accessibility team will introduce a practical framework for conducting accessibility-focused competitive analysis across products, audiences, and business objectives. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all checklist, the framework considers the technology, context of use, user goals, and organizational outcomes to uncover opportunities that traditional usability reviews and accessibility audits may miss. Attendees will leave with a reusable framework and practical techniques for using accessibility not just as a measure of compliance, but as a source of competitive insight, innovation, and better user experiences.