With the introduction of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) companies are looking into strategies to drive adoption of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards. In my experience, empathy goes a long way in helping teams realize this should be part of their mission too.

It’s on all of us

Most of the time we focus on developers because that’s easy to measure and often where a deep-seated problem surfaces. Today we have automated tools to run through the web that output a list of issues in the code. However, the problem starts much earlier in the process. From product and business ideation through design and story creation.

Make it resonate

With developers, it’s relatively simple to make the required changes once upstream teams and processes take accessibility seriously. But how do you reach those folks? It’s harder to convince a designer, PM, CPO, and sometimes even a CEO of the importance of this effort beyond legal risk.

A couple of years ago I came across some resources that fit this narrative perfectly. One of those resources is Ian. Ian was born with cerebral palsy. All he wants is to make friends, although it seems impossible in the face of discrimination. The chain-link fence here represents the barriers users with disabilities have to face every single day to complete the same tasks that could require little effort for you and me.

Why empathy works

Empathy works because it makes the problem concrete and shared. When people can picture a real person (Ian), they’re more likely to act than when faced with abstract risk. Framing accessibility as small, shared actions across roles turns it from a compliance burden into a team norm that prevents bigger downstream costs.

This animation perfectly captures the essence of accessibility. Inclusion means everyone doing a bit of work to remove the barriers that our users would otherwise need to overcome.

Share this with your colleagues, leaders, and friends. We all play a role in removing barriers and making life easier for everyone.