Did you know that barriers are built into systems?
Did you know that most accessibility barriers come from design and development decisions, not from people’s abilities? Disability is not the issue. Inaccessibility is. When systems assume everyone sees, hears, moves, or processes information the same way, barriers form by default, often without intent, awareness, or deliberate exclusion.
Why this keeps happening
Many decisions get made around assumed norms. Teams design for speed, familiarity, and majority use. Leadership rarely pauses to question those assumptions. Accessibility stays implicit, not examined. As a result, barriers are embedded early, long before anyone considers their impact.
What this signals
This pattern signals how exclusion becomes structural. When barriers are baked in, they feel neutral. No one is singled out. Problems only surface when people struggle. By then, inaccessibility feels accidental rather than designed, even though it came from clear choices.
Why this matters to leaders
Leaders shape the conditions where assumptions go unchallenged. When systems exclude by default, risk accumulates quietly. Trust erodes. Decision quality suffers. This is not about intent or empathy gaps. It is about whether leaders see how choices translate into barriers.
Where leaders encounter this
This often shows up during early design assumptions, requirement framing, and acceptance decisions. Barriers take hold when “normal use” goes unexamined and exceptions are left to adapt later.
Closing reflection
Disability is not a deviation from normal use. It exposes how narrow systems can be.
Where might unexamined assumptions be shaping experiences in your digital environment?
Take the Inclusive Leadership Self-Assessment Test
If you’re curious to see where your organization sits on the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model – and what that means for your next leadership decisions – you can take a short, leadership-focused survey to find out.
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About Denis Boudreau
Denis Boudreau is a consultant, trainer, and speaker specializing in digital accessibility and disability inclusion. He works with organizational leaders who want to equip their teams with the skills to create accessible websites and digital products – so no one is left behind. A Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), Denis has trained thousands of web professionals over the past 20+ years and delivered hundreds of workshops in both English and French. He has helped leading brands like Netflix, Salesforce, and Victoria’s Secret embed accessibility into their digital strategies, empowering them to meet legal obligations, improve user experience, and connect with more people, more effectively.