When the United States Department of Justice expanded enforcement of digital accessibility standards in 2024, many organizations treated it as a legal issue to monitor. By 2026, that framing is no longer sufficient.
Accessibility is now a material business concern. One that affects revenue growth, brand reputation, search visibility and legal exposure. Organizations that still view accessibility as a compliance checkbox are not only increasing risk; they are leaving meaningful market opportunity untapped.
The most forward-looking leaders understand a simple truth: building accessible digital experiences expands your addressable market while delivering measurable business results.
The Legal Landscape Has Shifted and It’s Not Reversing
The Americans with Disabilities Act has been in place since 1990, but its application to digital experiences has evolved rapidly. The Department of Justice’s 2024 final rule established clear accessibility standards for state and local government websites, creating a precedent that continues to influence expectations across the private sector.
The result has been a sharp rise in accessibility-related litigation. Lawsuits have increased dramatically over the past several years, impacting organizations across industries and revenue tiers. For executive teams, the takeaway is straightforward: accessibility-related risk is now predictable, avoidable and increasingly scrutinized. But legal exposure is only part of the equation. Even when cases are resolved quickly, the cost of defense routinely exceeds the cost of building accessibility into a website from the outset.
Accessibility Is a Market Expansion Strategy
A substantial portion of American adults live with some form of disability. When digital experiences are not accessible, organizations effectively exclude a significant segment of their potential audience and the considerable economic power that comes with it.
Common barriers include:
- Missing or unclear image descriptions that prevent screen reader users from understanding content
- Navigation that cannot be completed with a keyboard
- Videos without captions or transcripts
- Forms that are confusing or impossible to complete using assistive technologies
When users encounter these barriers, they don’t always file complaints or request accommodations. They leave. Revenue, engagement and trust leave with them. Accessibility expands your addressable market while removing friction from customer journeys, regardless of how users access your digital properties.
The Undervalued SEO and Visibility Advantage
Accessibility improvements frequently deliver an additional benefit that executive teams undervalue: stronger organic search performance.
Search engines increasingly reward websites that provide clear structure, logical navigation and high-quality user experiences. Many accessibility best practices align directly with these priorities, including:
- Proper heading hierarchy that improves content clarity
- Descriptive link text that signals relevance
- Alternative text that provides context for images
- Clean, predictable navigation structures
When accessibility barriers are removed, search engines can more easily understand and index content. The outcome is often improved visibility, higher-quality traffic and better engagement metrics without additional media spend.
In practical terms, investing in accessibility helps organizations reach more people while becoming more discoverable to everyone.
A Practical Starting Point for the C-Suite
Organizations that succeed with accessibility treat it as a program, not a project. A disciplined approach typically includes these steps:
- Begin with an accessibility audit
A comprehensive assessment identifies risk areas, prioritizes fixes and creates a clear roadmap tied to business impact.
- Focus on critical user paths first
Address barriers that prevent users from completing high-value actions such as inquiries, purchases, applications or donations. This approach delivers the most immediate business impact while managing resource constraints.
- Operationalize accessibility
Accessibility should be built into design, development and content workflows. Training teams and adding checkpoints to QA processes reduces long-term cost and risk.
- Validate with real users
Automated tools are helpful, but testing with people who use assistive technologies reveals issues scanners cannot detect.
The Strategic Choice Leaders Face
Organizations performing well in 2026 are no longer debating whether to invest in accessibility. They are deciding how quickly they can implement it and how well it can be embedded into their digital strategy.
Leaders face a clear set of choices:
- Whether to address accessibility proactively or react under pressure
- Whether to aim for minimum standards or deliver genuinely usable experiences
- Whether to treat accessibility as a cost center or a driver of growth and trust
Those decisions influence legal exposure, competitive positioning, search performance and brand credibility for years to come. Accessibility is a leadership issue and an opportunity for organizations willing to act decisively.
