Shared Responsibility for Accessibility

By Sarah Horton and David Sloan — There’s been a trend over the years to see accessibility as overwhelmingly the responsibility of development. As the people writing the code that will run the digital resource, it’s true that developers have a significant responsibility to ensure the code they write meets expected accessibility standards. But the reality is that many decisions affecting accessibility are made in software development long before developers start coding. A conscientious developer who wants to write the most accessible application may have limited ability to reverse the negative accessibility impact of decisions made earlier in the product lifecycle, even for projects that follow an Agile approach. Is it any wonder that accessibility can be perceived as something technologically complex and expensive to do, if there’s an assumption that it’s the responsibility of developers alone?

Another common approach is to delegate accessibility to an accessibility specialist or outsource accessibility to an accessibility consultancy. This approach positions accessibility as a delegated task for accessibility specialists, with issues managed as bugs to be remediated. While this approach can yield positive results in the short term, it puts accessibility responsibility on a single point of failure, making it vulnerable to cost‑cutting decisions that lead to the departure of the accessibility specialist. This approach does not adequately address accessibility as a non‑functional requirement that must be considered throughout product development. 

The most effective approach to including accessibility as a quality attribute and non‑functional requirement in digital product creation is to treat it as a shared responsibility. This may require a deliberate, staged approach to building accessibility capacity across the team, bringing everyone to a point where they understand and can meet their responsibilities. 

Here we provide a range of roles with details about their accessibility responsibilities. This section considers various roles on the product development team and describes their accessibility responsibilities and accountabilities within their scope of influence and authority. 

• Product Sponsors have the budgetary authority to fund accessible product development. They are responsible for establishing accessibility as a priority and funding accessibility, both in time and budget allocation. The project sponsor is accountable for the accessibility of the product and may need to defend accessibility against other potentially conflicting priorities. 
• Product Owners/Managers have the authority to set accessibility priorities for product development and define development processes. They are responsible for ensuring accessibility is prioritized and managed as a non‑functional requirement and compliance‑level concern, establishing development processes and resources that support quality attention to accessibility. The product owner is accountable for how accessibility is prioritized and supported in product development. 
• User Experience (UX) Researchers have the authority to include perspectives and experiences of disabled people in research data, whether to provide insights to inform new product development or to evaluate existing products or products in development. They are responsible for recruiting participants with disabilities, adapting research methods as needed to ensure equal participation, and reporting research‑based accessibility insights and considerations. They are accountable for accurately capturing disability and accessibility perspectives that lead to improved accessibility, as well as ethical and inclusive research practices. 
• Business Analysts have the authority to surface accessibility requirements for consideration in product development based on research and business goals. They are responsible for ensuring accessibility is prioritized among functional and technical requirements and correctly considered when defining project requirements. They are accountable for ensuring the needs of disabled people are addressed in project requirements. 
• Project Managers have the authority to manage accessibility in product development activities. They are responsible for ensuring that team members understand their accessibility responsibilities and have what they need to meet their responsibilities, including training and tools. They are responsible for ensuring that accessibility requirements are treated with equal importance as other requirements, especially when conflicts arise, and are accountable for making sure team members have the necessary skills and schedule to implement accessibility. 
• Software Architects have the authority to make high‑level decisions about technologies, tools, and methodologies that are most appropriate to building a product that meets specified requirements within budget and on schedule. They are responsible for ensuring that these high‑level decisions are influenced by a project’s accessibility goals, and choices are made that smooth the path toward meeting accessibility requirements rather than introducing new barriers. 
• Content Producers have the authority to include accessibility when designing, creating, producing, and publishing content. They are responsible for ensuring content is created and published following accessible practices, including the use of clear language and semantic markup, and providing accessible alternatives for audio, video, and images. They are accountable for the accessibility of the content.
• Designers have the authority to include accessibility features and functionality in visual and interaction designs. They are responsible for specifying accessibility requirements in design specifications, mock‑ups, and other design artifacts. They are accountable for accessible design.
• Developers have the authority to include accessibility when developing sites and applications. They are responsible for ensuring content and functionality are implemented to meet accessibility requirements. They are accountable for accessible features and functionality.
• Testers have the authority to include accessibility tests in quality assurance activities. They are responsible for evaluating whether products meet accessibility requirements and reporting the results. They are accountable for the accurate reporting of the accessibility status of products. 

There are other key accessibility roles that are not directly related to product development but have a significant impact on accessibility outcomes, including: 

• Marketing and Communications are responsible for producing accessible marketing material promoting the product, including to people with disabilities, and for highlighting the product’s accessibility features in appropriate language.
• Technical Writers are responsible for ensuring that product documentation highlights accessibility features, identifies alternative ways to activate functionality and receive information, promotes accessibility best practices in using the digital product, and is written in language that does not marginalize users with disabilities.
• Customer Support is responsible for sensitively handling accessibility‑related issues, including having appropriate processes for gathering sufficient customer information to identify and either address or escalate an accessibility‑related issue. This may involve tiered levels of support, providing progressively more specialist accessibility support. 
• Human Resources is responsible for recruiting employees with the requisite skills to contribute to a successful project, including accessibility skills. Human Resources is also responsible for supporting employees with disabilities by providing an accessible work environment.

A shared responsibility for accessibility is the ideal philosophy for a product team, one where everyone understands their role and has the knowledge, skills, and tools to meet their responsibilities.

From Horton, S., & Sloan, D. (2024). What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.