As a developer, you’re probably already contending with digital accessibility in some capacity. Pretty much everyone is, because that’s the world we live in now. And that’s a good thing, because it’s the right thing.
When shipping features and writing components, accessibility is increasingly a given. Developer teams are leading by example, building accessible products from the start, setting new standards for the industry, and using world-class tools to make a lasting impact.
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By enabling this work, companies are demonstrating their commitment and raising awareness that accessible code is no longer optional—it’s essential.
However, while incorporating accessibility as we code is essential for preventing barriers from creeping into the digital experiences we create, being essential doesn’t mean the process is friction-free.
Awareness is progress, but awareness alone doesn’t erase the challenges of tight deadlines, changing priorities, legacy code, and uneven understandings across teams. A new kind of advocacy is needed.
Advocating for accessibility means pushing to do what’s right—for our users and the health of the codebase. That tension between doing what’s right and shipping fast is something most developers face daily. To succeed, accessibility advocacy must address this tension head-on, and who better than developers to lead the way?
Balancing velocity and accessibility
As developers, we’re expected to move quickly to deliver net-new features and keep value flowing. That’s part of what we thrive on.
But when new features go out and accessibility issues start coming back in, we run into trouble. Bugs, audit findings, and requests for fixes can pile up. Sprints meant for innovation have to pivot to remediation. Before you know it, instead of building something new and exciting, you’re revisiting something old—repeatedly.
That constant loop can wear you down. Velocity drops, tension builds, and digital accessibility can start to feel like a blocker instead of a core part of quality engineering.
For many developers, the challenge isn’t the willingness to code accessibly, it’s getting the support and buy-in from your team leads. You want to do the right thing, but without clear guidance or the right tools, progress stalls, and you’re stuck in the break-fix cycle.
The break-fix cycle
As time goes on, the lack of support and alignment starts to slow everything down. You ship a feature, and it gets flagged for accessibility issues. It comes back for fixes, and you fix it and send it out again. Then the same thing happens in the next sprint, and the next, and the next after that, and on and on it goes. This is the dreaded break-fix loop: something ships, breaks, gets patched, and ships again.
It’s not efficient, and it’s not satisfying. Your backlog fills with remediation tickets, and your velocity inevitably drops. Now, management wants to know why features aren’t moving faster, and they’re pointing the finger at you, even though it’s not your fault, and it’s not from lack of effort. You want to move faster, but how can you, when you lack the clarity, resources, and processes to build things accessibly from the start?
Shifting left as the solution
There’s a way out of this cycle.
You’re likely familiar with the term “shift left.” It refers to catching issues earlier in the development process—before they reach production. We’ve seen a shift to left work in the realm of security. Most developers would shy away from leaving an API key exposed in their source code before pushing it to GitHub. It’s about incorporating secure practices at every step.
The same principles apply to digital accessibility.
Conducting accessibility testing as you code means it’s part of your everyday workflow, rather than an afterthought. That’s what shifting left is really all about. However, that shift doesn’t happen automatically. It starts with education and awareness.
Developers want to do the right thing, but how can we do so if we haven’t been shown how? We don’t know what we don’t know. Once teams understand the fundamentals of accessibility—what matters, why it matters, and how to apply it in code—tools become far more effective. Education provides the knowledge; tools make it faster and easier to act on that knowledge.
Education resources like Deque University are literally the standard for learning digital accessibility. You can even take it a step further with Axe Assistant, Deque’s very own accessibility chatbot. It’s trained on Deque University’s knowledge base, the world’s largest, most comprehensive, and most trusted accessibility resource. You can ask Axe Assistant relevant accessibility questions, and it can return principles and code snippets you can add to your repository.
Tools like the Axe DevTools Extension can automatically catch most accessibility issues upfront before code even reaches QA or production. Once you see that in action, the benefits become clear. Less rework, fewer blockers, and more time spent building new features instead of fixing old ones that came back for remediation.
Shifting left restores your velocity by equipping you to fix the issues in your environment before handing them off to someone else. You have the power to build with digital accessibility in mind from the start. You’ll reduce your backlog and be able to get back to doing what you love—shipping great code that’s usable for everyone.
Igniting organizational change and advocating for digital accessibility
Individual effort makes a huge difference, but lasting change happens when digital accessibility becomes part of how your entire organization builds. Crucial conversations have to happen at the team, managerial, and executive levels. These conversations can start small, with a single developer asking the right questions. From there, changes ripple outward to dev leads, product owners, scrum masters, and risk teams. Eventually, it becomes clear that shifting left and embracing proactive accessibility is about digital transformation at the highest levels.
However, the change doesn’t initially have to be this huge thing. It can start with small, visible wins that prove the value early and give leadership something tangible for them to stay invested.
Drive that momentum. Talk openly about how much time is lost to rework, how many sprints get clogged with fixes, and how much faster things move when accessibility is built in from the start. Framing digital accessibility as a way to protect velocity and maintain speed builds the business case for accessibility. It enables everyone to see it not as extra work, but as smarter work.
If your developers are ready to take the next step, we recommend pairing education with practical tools. Encourage your organization to:
- Provide developers with access to Deque University for hands-on learning.
- Enable Axe DevTools in local or CI environments so accessibility checks run early.
- Use Axe Assistant to give developers quick, reliable answers without waiting on specialists.
These small changes can spark a broader shift. Once teams see how education and the right tools accelerate delivery, accessibility no longer feels like a blocker and becomes the new standard for quality engineering practices.
Your role as the hero
Be the advocate who takes the lead on accessibility. You won’t just improve your own code quality or how your team works—you’ll help transform your entire organization. You can be the one showing that building accessibly saves time, reduces rework, and helps everyone ship faster. You’ll be setting an example, proving that accessibility is an engineering best practice requiring lower effort than may be assumed.
This is where real change starts: one developer setting the example, asking the right questions, and showing that quality and velocity can coexist. You’ll be helping your team move from reactive fixes to proactive progress.
If you want to keep learning and connect with others who care about building accessible experiences, join the Axe Community on Discord. It’s a friendly space where developers share tips, ask questions, and talk through real accessibility challenges. Come hang out, learn from each other, and be part of the growing accessibility movement.
Join the Axe Community on Discord!
And remember, you’re the hero who helps your organization build better, for all users.
Let’s get started.