Secure a budget for digital accessibility

AbilityNet: The Business Case for Accessibility
The Business Case for Accessibility
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Digital accessibility is about making something that can be used by as
many people as possible.
Many disabled people use assistive technology such as a screen
reader. In 2019 63% of people reported use Assistive Technology (up
from 53% in 2016), according to the Click Away Pound.
Assistive technology depends on compatible website and apps. For
example, tagging images with Alt Text to identify them for blind users.
Many website and apps fail to work with Assistive Technology.
Intro: what is digital accessibility?
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97.4% of 1 million homepages had detectable WCAG 2 (Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines) failures
• Common categories were low contrast text, missing alt-text, empty
links, missing document language and empty buttons
• Missing alternative text for images was reported as 60.6%.
• Low contrast text was the most common issue at 86.4%
Many websites aren’t accessible
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Grow
Income
Be
Inclusive
Brand
Integrity Innovate Implement
Business case; the five “I”s
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1. Grow Income
Revenue ● Income ● Profit
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“An equitable employer respects the unique needs, perspectives and
potentials of all team members and creates deeper trust and
commitment from employees. It outpaces competitors.”
Mairead Comerford, Head of HR for AbilityNet
(AbilityNet is a Disability Confident Leader)
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YES! An Accenture report identified 45 so-called Accessibility
champions listed on the Disability Equality Index (Disability:IN).
These “inclusion champions” achieved on average:
• 28 x higher revenue
• 2 x higher net income
• 30 x better performance on economic profit margin
Can inclusion drive profit?
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Plus! bigger shareholder returns
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2. Be Inclusive
£Purple ● £Grey ● Click Away Pound
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£Purple
£248bn: value of purple pound1
15-20% of global population has a
disability2
1bn people worldwide with
disabilities and long-term
conditions3
£Grey
£550bn: estimated value of older
consumers to UK economy by 2040
63p: older people estimated to
account for 63p in every pound spent
by 2040 – from 54p (2018)
2%: “Neglected” opportunities of
ageing could add 2% to UK GDP5.
Inclusion expands customer reach
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75% of disabled people and their families have walked away from a UK
business because of poor accessibility or service*
4.3 million of disabled online shoppers, click away from inaccessible websites**
£11.75 billion
The combined spending power of the 4.3 million disabled shoppers
who abandon inaccessible websites***
73% Of potential disabled customers experience barriers on more than a
quarter of websites they visited.****
Bad digital design = bad business
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“Being locked out of
the online world is the
same as being locked
out of the world.”
Krissie Barrick, Head of
Digital Influencing at Scope.
Disabled customers locked out
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3. Integrity
CSR benefits ● Measurement
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“The Googles, the Apples and the Microsofts are competing
on accessibility. It is a business advantage to have a good
story. It has a halo effect in terms of your brand."
Christopher Patnoe, Head of Accessibility Programs and Disability
Inclusion at Google, speaking to us for TSP365.
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> 50% of consumers willing to pay more for a product or service if the
business prioritises sustainability1.
>56% were more willing to pay more for a company being known for its
commitment to social value2.
500
signatories of The Valuable 500 (a global movement to get disability
recognised at board level). The 500 members include Coca-Cola,
Microsoft and Unilever and have a combined revenue of $8 trillion.
92% of consumers felt more favourable toward companies that hire
individuals with disabilities.
Ethical brands win customers
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4. Innovation
Inclusive Design ● AT ● Legislation
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“If you’re designing from the extreme need, you're probably
going to fulfil everybody's need. I see the disability
experience being the greatest insight to help companies
achieve universal accessibility, which is not simply about
the disability market but also about the ageing market.”
Caroline Casey, founder of The Valuable 500
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Why inclusive design matters
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88% of adults in the UK own a smartphone1
>54% of global internet traffic from mobile2.
80% of US consumers are more likely to watch an entire video when
captions are available3.
10.07m disabled internet users in 2019; 71% said their disability impacts their
internet usage.
The case for inclusive design
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“When we empower people with disabilities using
technology, we empower everybody.”
Cindy Rose, President of Western Europe for Microsoft
speaking at TechShare Pro 2020.
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Apple at WWDC 2021:
• Assistive Touch introduced for
Apple Watch
• Upgrade to VoiceOver
(screen reader, including iOS)
• Apples MiFi device offers
support for bi-directional
hearing aids
Microsoft “doubles down1”
• Accessibility checker switched
on by default in MS Word
• AI in Microsoft Word will detect
and convert to heading styles
• Immersive Reader comes to
PowerPoint
Accessibility is mainstream
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Legal: European Legislation
June 28,
2022
June 28,
2025
EAA
roadmap
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Introduction of national
laws by member states,
based on the EAA
Requirements must be
included in products and
services sold within EU
member states

EAA: why it’s important
• Cover a wide range of products and services, including:
o Banking services, e-commerce, mobile services related to air,
bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport; telephone services
and related equipment, smartphones, OSes, E-books
• Covers all apps sold or in use within the EU in these categories.
• Includes your app if sold in an app store of a country within the EU.
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Legislation and the US
• Lawsuits: Nike (2017), Amazon (2018), Burger King (2018
• The Online Accessibility Act seeks to amend the Americans with
Disabilities Act to cover consumer websites and mobile apps1.
• 24% received a demand letter or were sued over digital accessibility
in the US compared to 9% internationally (Level Access)2.
• 51% of international respondents reported being concerned with
legal risk to anticipate legislation changes compared to 38% (US)3.
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5. Implement
A culture of accessibility and inclusion
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Creating an organisation that embraces inclusion and accessibility
demands a holistic view. Areas to consider (from our Maturity Model):
Creating a culture of inclusion
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Vision Leadership Processes Capability Procurement

Vision
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“CEOs and senior leaders are “not connecting the dots that
a digital accessibility investment has a universally positive
impact on all users, internal and external.”1
Executives who are focused on disability engagement grow
sales (2.9x) and profits (4.1x) faster than peers2
What is our vision about why and how we are adopting
best practice in accessibility and inclusive design

Leadership
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“Having employees with
disabilities telling you the hard
truths about your product drives
more impact inside the business
because it's not this other-ism.”1
Hector Minto, Senior Technical
Evangelist for Microsoft
Yet, disabled employees are:
27% less likely to feel ‘included’
in the workplace
•60% more likely to feel
‘excluded2

 Executive Level sponsor for accessibility (e.g., The Valuable 500)
 A Champions Network to embed accessibility throughout
 A roadmap and a dedicated budget for driving digital accessibility
o Maturity models provide a framework for measuring accessibility.
o Helps to create a, which can inform financial planning
o Available from The Business Disability Forum (BDF), Microsoft's
Accessibility Evolution Model and AbilityNet.
 Cross-organisational collaboration (e.g., HR ref D&I recruitment)
Leadership recommendations
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• Measure how well your organisation has embedded accessibility.
• A holistic approach, which breaks actions down into clear
and manageable steps and can help to measure progress over time.
• Benefits are that it can.
• There are many providers of maturity models including
Measuring accessibility progress
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Processes
It is vital to embed accessibility and inclusive design into every stage of
the project development lifecycle
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Ideation Product definition
Prototyping
(wireframe)
Detailed design Validating testing Commercialisation

• What testing is currently happening inside your organisation?
• E.g., Headline reviews, WCAG audits
• User testing (users with lived experience)
• Where is this in the product cycle?
• Do you have additional budgetary requirements?
• What learnings/benefits come from the testing (above)?
Processes: For you to populate
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• What are the training needs within your team?
• Across the organisation?
• Peer-to-peer training, including champions?
“Our products are
born accessible,
and accessibility
is part of
everybody's job.”
Samantha Soloway,
Accessibility Lab
Manager for
Verizon Media.
Capability: For you to populate
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• What is the procurement process with regards to accessibility?
• Are staff trained in how to select accessible supply partners?
Procurement: to populate
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6. Resources
Useful information and links
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• Disability 100 Report (An in-depth look at the reporting by FTSE 100
companies on issues of disability inclusion and representation.)
• Disability Inclusion Advantage: The study established the business case
for employing and including more people with disabilities
• Enabling Change: Discover the 8 culture factors that are closely linked to
enhanced engagement and thriving among employees with disabilities
• Find out more at www.accenture.com/pwd
• Assessing The Value Of Accessible Technologies For Organizations
(Microsoft and Forrester Research)
Accessibility Research
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• Big Hack: The Business Case for Inclusive Design
• Business Case for Accessibiltiy infographic (AbilityNet)
• Click Away Pound Report
• Level Access: the state of accessibility
• The state of the smartphone (Deloitte)
• We Are Purple (infographic)
• Web AIM Million
Accessibility statistics
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• AbilityNet Business Case: infographic; 10 tips; download the
business case for accessibility
• Accessibility Twitter accounts you should follow
• How digital accessibility can drive diversity and inclusion
• How to conduct remote usability testing
• Global brands building a culture of inclusion
• Insider’s Guide to the European Accessibility Act
• TechShare Procast: Insights from accessibility leaders
Reading List
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More information from AbilityNet
• Find out more about our accessibility products and services
• Download a brochure about AbilityNet and what we do
• Download our training catalogue
• Find out more about role-based accessibility training
• View our rolling programme of free webinars
• Find out more about workplace services
• Find out more about TechShare Pro and TSP365
• For details of our Digital Accessibility Maturity Model +44 (0)1926 465 247
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