Tolerating Inaccessibility

WAVE-detected distinct accessibility errors across the top 1,000,000 websites increased from 51 in 2025 to 56.1 in 2026. Despite growing interest and ongoing work by digital accessibility professionals, the data indicate reduced accessibility compared with the previous year. The results raise concern that widespread inaccessibility remains broadly acceptable for disabled users. The problem is framed as systemic, tied to systems not designed to prioritize accessibility. Efforts are underway to embed accessibility into training, purchasing, hiring, technical standards, and policy, but accessibility is still missing from many systems. Barriers persist not only due to awareness, technical, training, or legal gaps, but also because organizations can overlook the impact on disabled users.

"Across the top 1,000,000 websites, the number of distinct accessibility errors detected by WAVE rose from 51 in the 2025 report to 56.1. Despite an increase in interest and the tireless efforts of digital accessibility professionals all over the world, the data indicate that the web is less accessible than it was a year ago."

"The hardest thing for me about the latest report is the reminder that we live in a world where it remains broadly acceptable (or at least tolerable) that the top one million home pages average 56.1 potential barriers for a specific group of people. Why is widespread inaccessibility still acceptable for disabled users?"

"I have felt unsettled recently by the adage, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” The lack of digital accessibility is the result of a system that was clearly not designed to prioritize accessibility. That said, how do we impact systemic change, and what “system” are we even talking about?"

"Digital inaccessibility is often framed as an awareness, technical, training, or legal problem—and it is all of those things. But that is only part of the story; accessibility barriers persist not only because of these challenges, but also because their impact on disabled users remains easy for so many organizations to overlook."

Read at Webaim