Studying industry practices of accessibility requirements in agile development
Abstract
Although many companies are aware of the need to deliver systems accessible to all, many websites and web applications present accessibility limitations, making it impossible for some people to use. This may be also observed when those applications are developed in an agile context. We are interested in studying how agile teams address accessibility. In this paper, we conducted an online survey with 13 companies that apply agile development. The main objective was to understand how these companies deal with accessibility requirements in their web projects and what methods, tools, or techniques are used to help agile teams in this process. Our empirical results revealed that most participants only have basic knowledge of web accessibility and are unfamiliar with accessibility guidelines and assistive technologies. Acceptance criteria are the artifact more used to specify these requirements. Also, the survey reveals that accessibility is not a priority item by the companies, and no specific methods or tools assist teams in this process. In general, respondents reported that lack of training and the unexpressed need imposed by customers are the main reasons for not prioritizing these requirements in their projects.
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In practice, accessibility is often deprioritised in favour of more immediate project goals such as functionality, performance, or client requirements.
“In practice, accessibility is often deprioritised in favour of more immediate project goals such as functionality, performance, or client requirements [5, 37].”
From Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2025) · cites this paper as [37]
Formal accessibility education remains rare and often lacks practical depth; retention is low without hands-on application.
“Formal accessibility education remains rare and often lacks practical depth. Where it exists, retention is low without hands-on application [36, 37, 59].”
From Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2025) · cites this paper as [37]
User-centred evaluation and expert consulting can reveal real-world barriers, but these methods demand time, expertise, and careful planning, and are not always accessible to novices.
“Involving users with disabilities through usability testing or expert reviews can reveal real-world barriers [37]. However, these methods demand time, expertise, and careful planning, and are not always accessible to novices.”
From Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2025) · cites this paper as [37]
The observed disconnect between clarity and perceived relevance aligns with findings from professional contexts, where the importance of accessibility measures is often underestimated when guidelines are not linked to practical examples or user needs.
“The observed disconnect between clarity and perceived relevance also aligns with findings from professional contexts, where the importance of accessibility measures is often underestimated when guidelines are not linked to practical examples or user needs [37, 42].”
From Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2025) · cites this paper as [37]
Cites
Accessibility in Software Practice: A Practitioner’s Perspective
Bi, T., Xia, X., Lo, D., Grundy, J., Zimmermann, T., & Ford, D. (2022) · ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology · doi:10.1145/3503508 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Ferri, D., & Favalli, S. (2018) · Societies · doi:10.3390/soc8020040 · Cited by 104 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Nowadays, many countries have specific legislation focused on producing accessible web-based systems [12,13].”
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Kubullek, A.-K., Zimmer, L., Ly, T. T. M., & Dogangün, A. (2025) · Proceedings of the 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3764687.3764711 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Miranda, D., & Araujo, J.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
- NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
- ORCID
- Miranda, Darliane
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 37th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2022-04-25
- Pages
- 1309-1317
- OpenAlex
- W4229070663
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 5.83
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- FCT.IP
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Techniques and Practices
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Usability and User Interface Design
- Keywords
- web accessibility, accessibility requirements, agile software development, agile teams, acceptance criteria, accessibility guidelines, assistive technology, requirements prioritization, accessibility training, web application
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