Accessibility becomes a measure of digital quality

More than a year after the European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into effect, many organizations are still finding accessibility gaps in their digital services, TechRadar reports.

Meeting recognized requirements for websites, mobile apps, e-commerce platforms and digital banking does not always ensure an accessible experience. People using assistive technologies may still face confusing workflows, unclear error messages and content that screen readers struggle to interpret.

The report presents accessibility as an indicator of digital quality rather than only a compliance obligation. It says technology companies need to manage accessibility across product portfolios, development teams and release cycles through a continuous ecosystem of assessments, audits, automated testing and feedback from people with disabilities.

Assessments help identify risks and priorities, while audits evaluate products against standards including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) and the EAA. Automated tools can find issues such as missing alternative text, weak color contrast and incorrect heading structures, and can integrate into CI/CD pipelines.

AI can group similar issues and suggest fixes, but the report says it cannot replace human judgment. Automated checks cannot determine whether link text makes sense out of context, whether keyboard focus follows a logical order or how a screen-reader user experiences a journey. Effective programs therefore combine automation with expert reviews and testing by people with disabilities.