If the first thing you think about when you hear the word accessibility is a ramp or wider toilet, keep reading, your business will benefit. 

The EU Accessibility Act is coming into effect in June, 2025 and it has serious implications for all businesses. Based on the fact that so many products and services in society are not accessible to people with disabilities, there is a need for further legislation. When people can’t access your goods or services, they are excluded from opportunity. And from a business perspective, you just lost a customer.  

Not just any customer, you just lost highly brand-loyal repeat purchasers who are known to spend more per transaction.  

1 in 4 of your customers have a disability.  

Failing to design accessible products and services for them increases your chance of litigation, lost sales and can impact your brands reputation. 

A lack of digital accessibility in the USA has resulted in 4,000 lawsuits with 77% for eCommerce this year. 

 

Will my business need to comply? 

Yes. The EU Commission have identified key products and services that must be accessible. These can include both physical and digital services and a key areas is your company website. A website can be inaccessible based on simply the colour contrast. Interestingly, very little seems to be known about website accessibility which is a reason why more than 90% of global websites fail accessibility tests.  

This can be down to a few simple things and easy to fix, such as colour contrast.  

• Colour contrast  
• Moving images  
• Complex language 

Beware of Snake Oil 

You may now rush to search Google for solutions. But, beware. The majority of companies on page #1 are what people working in accessibility call ‘Modern day snake oil’. They claim that with one line of code your website will magically become accessible. This is a lie and can lead to litigation. So, avoid them and look for real specialists as many things need to be fixed manually. 

How to outcompete 

2025 is not very far away and by getting ahead of the curve, you can get ahead of the competition. People with disabilities are loyal repeat purchasers. They are less price-sensitive. Considering the needs of people who have constantly been forgotten about can help them access the opportunity you provide.  

You are providing them with the excitement of booking a trip. Buying a gig ticket before it is sold out. Doing their banking online. Ordering a takeaway to celebrate their birthday or buying gifts for their family for Christmas. When you provide more people with the opportunity for moments, you give them the opportunity to be self-reliant, to be independent. 

The opportunity to live how we all want and deserve to. Providing all people with that opportunity is a sure way to beat the competition. 

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It derives from the United Nations Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (UNCRPD) which came into effect in 2011, stating that persons with disabilities have the same rights as everyone else. However, using light colours or putting text on top of images can make it hard to see or read for people with colour blindness or low vision. A good rule for colour contrast is a ratio of 7:1 and there are multiple free tools out there to check. Now think if the contrast on your ‘Call to Action’ button on Black Friday wasn’t strong enough, you may have lost customers based on something as easy to fix as this. 

Another is using complex language that can be hard for people with varying literacy, cognitive or English levels to understand. Take a look at the words in sign up or application forms. Are you using words like ‘residence’ instead of ‘house’? This can lead to mistakes, lost customers or wasted customer service hours.