Web accessibility: why it’s good for business and the right thing to do

Here’s a question for you: who is your website actually built for?

Web accessibility is the practice of designing and building websites that can be used by everyone, including people with disabilities, older users, and anyone navigating the world differently than the assumed default. And before you assume this does not apply to your business, consider this: there are over 6 million Canadians living with a disability. Add their families, friends, and the people who support them, and you are looking at a significant portion of the population that your site may currently be turning away.

That’s not just a social issue, that’s a business one.

The business case for web accessibility

Here’s the thing about doing the right thing: it turns out it’s also the smart thing.

Reach more people

Designing an accessible website means more people can actually use it. More people who can use your site means more potential clients, customers, and supporters who can find you, understand what you offer, and reach out. Tapping into a market of millions of Canadians with disabilities, and the people around them, is not a niche consideration, it’s a significant opportunity most businesses are currently leaving on the table.

Build the kind of brand loyalty that sticks

When someone with a disability visits your site and finds that it actually works for them, that experience says something. It says you thought about them. It says you didn’t design for the assumed average user and leave everyone else to figure it out. That kind of intentionality builds trust and loyalty in a way that no ad campaign can replicate.

Web accessibility signals to every visitor that you value them as a person, not just as a transaction. That matters!

You are in charge of this

Technically, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sets the guidelines for web accessibility across the internet. The W3C’s accessibility standards are the global benchmark that developers and designers work toward.

But here’s the reality: you are the one responsible for your own site and the content on it. Not a governing body. You.

Web accessibility covers a wider range of needs than most people realize. That includes people with blindness or low vision, learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities, deafness or hearing loss, speech disabilities, and physical disabilities. It also includes temporary limitations like a broken arm, a screen in bright sunlight, a slow internet connection. And age. Accessibility benefits everyone at some point. I can tell as an almost 53 year old I already consistently see things online and around me that are just not easy to read due to colour contrast, font size, etc. I’m not that old!

Do good and look good. You do not have to pick one.

Some businesses approach accessibility as a compliance checkbox. We would encourage you to see it differently.

Being a frontrunner on accessibility builds a reputation. It positions your brand as one that genuinely cares about the experience of every visitor, and that reputation leads to increased customer loyalty and a positive brand image that is genuinely hard to fake.

Do good by providing inclusive digital experiences because it is the socially responsible and right thing to do. Look good because businesses that lead on this stand out from the majority that have not gotten there yet.

Win. Win.

Ready to talk about steps we take to make your site more accessible?