(DYKI-005) Accessibility Risk Is No Longer Theoretical
Did you know that accessibility lawsuits under the ADA continue to rise each year in the United States, with websites as the most common target? Legal exposure is no longer hypothetical. Accessibility failures now bring real financial, reputational, and operational consequences, often surfacing after issues have gone unnoticed for years.
Why this keeps happening
Accessibility often lives outside core risk discussions. It is treated as optional or situational. Leadership assumes problems will be flagged early. Governance models rarely assign clear accountability. As a result, gaps persist quietly until they collide with legal, customer, or employee pressure.
What this signals
This pattern signals how risk stays invisible when it lacks ownership. Accessibility issues do not trigger alarms until consequences arrive. Silence becomes the norm. Organizations discover exposure late, not because warnings were absent, but because signals were not actively sought.
Why this matters to leaders
When risk emerges after the fact, leaders lose control of timing and narrative. Decisions become reactive. Trust erodes. This is not a legal knowledge gap. It is a visibility gap around where digital decisions create downstream exposure.
Where leaders encounter this
This often appears during risk reviews, incident response discussions, or external escalations. Accessibility becomes visible only when consequences force it into leadership conversations.
Closing reflection
Accessibility risk is not sudden. It accumulates quietly over time.
What risks might already exist in your digital ecosystem that leadership has not yet made visible?
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.