The Compliance Mindset: Exploring Accessibility Adoption in Client-Based Settings
Abstract
Despite growing awareness around web accessibility and its importance, adoption still remains incredibly low, leading to the digital exclusion of many who are unable to access the ever-increasing amount of content and services online. This study extends previous research into accessibility adoption models to explore client-based settings such as consultancies and freelance work. A qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was performed to derive core and emerging themes. The main findings were that, while accessibility is well embedded into individual practitioner workflows, there is a heavy emphasis on compliance which can lead to issues if it overrules a user-focused approach. These findings were used to inform four principles for adoption in client-based settings to be tested in future work: Put users before compliance, always consider accessibility, facilitate practitioner passion, and automate with care.
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In the worst case, web accessibility is experienced as a meaningless box-ticking exercise that leads to poor implementations for all users.
“In the worst case, web accessibility is experienced as a meaningless box-ticking exercise (Holliday, 2020; Oswal, 2019) that leads to poor implementations for all users.”
From How compliance with web accessibility standards shapes the experiences of users with and without disabilities (2023) · cites this paper as Holliday, 2020
Cites
Vigo, M., Brown, J., & Conway, V. (2013) · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility · doi:10.1145/2461121.2461124 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Web accessibility guidelines: A lesson from the evolving Web
Harper, S., & Chen, A. Q. (2012) · World Wide Web · doi:10.1007/s11280-011-0130-8 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Web site accessibility: an online sector analysis
Loiacono, E., & McCoy, S. (2004) · Information Technology & People · doi:10.1108/09593840410522198 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
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Vollenwyder, B., Petralito, S., Iten, G. H., Brühlmann, F., Opwis, K., & Mekler, E. D. (2023) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102956 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
- Authors
- L. Holliday, E.
- Affiliations
- University College London, United Kingdom
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2020-10-26
- Pages
- 1-3
- OpenAlex
- W3095328897
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.34
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
- Keywords
- web accessibility, freelancing, digital exclusion, user-centered design
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