The Hidden Costs of Excluding Inclusive Design
In today’s digital age, accessibility should be at the forefront of every organization’s priorities. While many companies recognize the importance of creating inclusive digital products, there is still a significant number that pay the price for overlooking the hidden cost of not making their digital offerings accessible.
Accessibility is not just a buzzword to be callously thrown around — it’s an integral part of making your designs usable by every user group by ensuring their needs are serviced seamlessly regardless of their disabilities. Today, it has become mandatory for digital products to adhere to guidelines that ensure compliance with accessibility standards. Yet a large portion of companies ship out products in a very early stage and highly unusable state in order to reach the markets at the earliest with the bare minimum set of features.
This may be a smart business decision in the short term to beat the competition and start raking in profits at the earliest, but it can come back to pinch them in a far costlier way if they haven’t taken accessibility into account. In this article, we will take a deeper dive into the untold consequences of neglecting digital accessibility and shed light on the benefits of prioritizing inclusive design.
Excluding a Significant Portion of the Population
The market for digital accessibility software was estimated to be worth USD 484.70 million in 2020 and is anticipated to rise to USD 769.50 million by 2028, at a CAGR of 5.99%, according to Verified Market Research.
By ignoring digital accessibility, businesses inadvertently exclude a substantial portion of the population from accessing their products and services. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 15% of the global population lives with some form of disability. Neglecting accessibility means disregarding the needs of millions of potential customers and users who could benefit from your offerings. This exclusion not only limits your reach but could also transpire into serious ethical and legal consequences.
Legal and Regulatory Ramifications
In recent years, legal requirements surrounding digital accessibility have become more stringent. Many countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, have implemented accessibility laws that oblige businesses to provide inclusive digital experiences. Ignoring these regulations can lead to legal consequences, such as fines, lawsuits, and reputational damage.
In 2005, Target was notified by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), a non-profit organisation that advocates for blind Americans, that consumers who are blind or visually impaired cannot visit Target.com.
The following were the primary complaints:
- There was no alternate (alt) text for the site’s photos.
- The website lacked a number of essential headers.
- Without a mouse, it was difficult to finish an online transaction.
- Screen readers could not view the maps that showed the locations of Target shops.
In the lawsuit, it was claimed that Target had broken accessibility rules such the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, the California Disabled Persons Act, and the Americans with impairments Act (ADA), which mandate that all establishments and public areas be accessible to everyone, including those with impairments.
The NFB filed a class-action lawsuit against Target Corporation, alleging that the retail giant’s website was inaccessible to blind individuals. The lawsuit claimed that the lack of alternative text for images, inaccessible forms, and improper headings violated the ADA. In 2008, Target settled the lawsuit and agreed to make its website accessible, paid a whopping $6 million in damages, and implement accessibility policies and training for employees.
This case set the precedent for class action lawsuits against websites and digital products that did not adhere to WCAG standards. It opened the floodgates to take legal recourse against top corporations if they did not take accessibility into account.
Since 2013, the law firm Seyfarth Shaw has been tracking the number of ADA (American Disabilities Act) cases filed each year. According to their data, more than 11,400 persons filed an ADA Title III complaint in 2021, up 4% from 2020 and a soaring 320% since the start of 2013.
Missed Market Opportunities
Accessible digital products not only benefit people with disabilities but also cater to a broader audience. When organizations invest in inclusive design, they tap into a market of potential customers who appreciate and prioritize accessibility. Moreover, by making products accessible from the start, businesses save valuable resources that would otherwise be spent retrofitting their offerings later. Inclusive design ensures a level playing field and opens up opportunities for innovation, ultimately driving growth and competitiveness. Moreover, it allows the frontiers of innovations to expand laterally and in creative ways.
In an ADA lawsuit settlement, a visually impaired man named Guillermo Robles sued Domino’s Pizza in 2019 over infringement of ADA Title III. As indicated by the complaint, he was unable to arrange food from the Domino’s site and application in spite of using screen-reading software. Robles eventually won the case, setting a strong example for corporations.
Ironically, Domino’s was renowned for being a great innovator due of its success with quick online pizza delivery. However, it left out a huge segment of the market in the absence of an accessible website or mobile app. 3.4 million Americans over the age of 40 are blind or visually impaired, according to the CDC. Another estimate puts the number of people with “vision problems” at 21 million. This begs the question — how many more markets did Domino’s miss out on?
Often, when businesses develop for the “edge case,” they end up producing goods and services that eventually become commonplace. The OXO Good Grips kitchenware firm was initially created for persons with arthritis, and closed captioning was first created by the U.S. government for people who are deaf. A large number of individuals have now used these inventions worldwide. Designing for accessibility opens the floodgates for solutions that have the potential to be used en masse.
Tarnished Brand Image
In the age of social media and heightened awareness of social issues, public perception plays a crucial role in shaping a company’s reputation. Ignoring digital accessibility can lead to public backlash, damaging your brand image and trustworthiness. On the other hand, by actively promoting and championing accessibility, businesses can position themselves as leaders in inclusivity, attracting positive attention, and gaining a competitive edge.
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a lawsuit against Netflix in 2012 because the majority of the “Watch Instantly” films and television shows it streams online do not include closed captioning.
Due to the fact that Netflix was the only significant player at the time in the online-only video subscription market, deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers had extremely limited access to content, and felt left out as streaming was the future of entertainment.
The court ordered Netflix to finish captioning all its content by 2014 and continue captioning its on-demand video catalogue in the future too. In addition, Netflix paid $750,000 in legal costs and damages to the NDA. These legal and compensatory fees, on top of the hassle of a court case and reputational damage due to bad publicity could’ve easily been avoided if accessibility was baked into its design right from its conception.
Haste Makes Waste
A hastily designed product with poor accessibility and design will lose consumers on a daily basis. You should look more closely at your design process if you are losing consumers or just can’t retain enough over a lengthy period of time.
The loop of building and rebuilding from scratch because accessibility was ignored in the first pass is often counterproductive and unnecessarily expensive, both monetarily and with respect to time. Moreover, designers will not be able to think of all edge cases and engineers will be thrown off by the constantly changing designs when everything gets built, broken down and rebuilt. Accessibility is not an afterthought, but a rather integral part of design that ensures any product can increase their target market significantly if they make their digital products more accessible for everyone.
Transactions are done over feelings, and it is a lot more subjective than objectively good looking design that can’t be used by everyone. If users get frustrated by the lack of usability, they are definitely not going to transact on your platform or buy the premium membership for your product. The subjective satisfaction of using your product will make or break the revenue it generates, and not many people are willing to admit it.
In the constant battle between tightening deadlines and creating good design, its essential to bring inclusive design at the forefront of all design principles, for you may profit from shipping early, but the hidden costs of exclusionary design will come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick intro to making your websites more accessible for all.
