Accessibility has become a critical priority for organisations aiming to build inclusive, legally compliant environments and services. Whether you are an employer committed to fostering a diverse workplace, or a service provider seeking to reach the broadest possible audience, your digital strategy for 2025 must prioritise accessibility.
The AbilityNet Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM) offers an invaluable framework to guide this journey, ensuring that accessibility becomes a core aspect of your organisation’s vision and operations.
Why prioritise accessibility?
Prioritising accessibility is essential for several compelling reasons. First and foremost, it’s a legal requirement. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 mandates that organisations must not discriminate against disabled individuals, which extends to the digital realm. Non-compliance can lead to legal challenges and damage to your brand’s reputation.
Beyond legal obligations, accessibility simply makes good business sense. An accessible digital platform opens your services to a broader audience, including the millions of disabled people, increasing market share and customer loyalty. Moreover, it’s just the right thing to do - creating an inclusive environment ensures everyone can participate fully in society.
Additionally, any company wanting to do business with Europe today or in the future should pay close attention to the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which will come into force in mid-2025. This legislation sets new accessibility standards for digital products and services, meaning that businesses must comply to continue operating in the European market.
By prioritising accessibility now, your organisation not only aligns with ethical practices but also future-proofs itself against forthcoming regulatory requirements.
What is the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model?
We have developed the AbilityNet Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM) is a comprehensive framework that helps organisations assess their current accessibility practices and chart a clear path towards greater inclusivity.
By evaluating an organisation's maturity across five key areas - Vision, Leadership, Processes, Capability, and Procurement - our DAMM provides actionable insights that inform strategic planning and budgeting for digital transformation.
Free webinar: Accessibility Planning for 2025
Join Robin Christopherson for a free webinar on Wednesday 23 October at 1pm BST for a session on the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model and how it can be used to take stock of your current position and identify priorities for action.
This session is aimed at anyone with responsibility for delivering accessibility in their work, to help you think about what you want to achieve in 2025.
Aligning accessibility with your 2025 vision 
A strong vision is the cornerstone of any successful digital strategy. For accessibility to be embedded in your organisation's DNA, it must be reflected in your overarching goals and aspirations.
The DAMM emphasises the importance of integrating accessibility into your organisation's vision from the outset. This means making a clear, public commitment to digital inclusion and ensuring that this commitment resonates throughout your strategic planning.
By aligning accessibility with your 2025 vision, you set a standard that influences all subsequent decisions. Whether you’re launching a new digital product or revising internal policies, accessibility becomes a non-negotiable aspect of your operations, guiding the way you approach every project.
Leadership: Driving change from the top
Effective leadership is crucial for any significant organisational change, and accessibility is no exception. DAMM highlights the role of leadership in driving an accessibility agenda. It calls for leaders to champion accessibility initiatives, allocate resources, and foster a culture that values inclusivity.
For your 2025 strategy, this means ensuring that your leadership team is not only aware of the importance of digital accessibility but is also actively involved in promoting and implementing it.
Secure a senior sponsor and appoint an accessibility lead who should be supported and equipped with the knowledge and tools to advocate for accessibility, set measurable goals, and hold the organisation accountable for progress. This top-down approach ensures that accessibility remains a priority, and that the entire organisation moves forward together on this journey.
Streamlining processes for better accessibility 
Processes are the backbone of any organisation, dictating how things get done. DAMM encourages organisations to evaluate and optimise their processes to support accessibility.
This involves integrating accessibility considerations into every stage of product development, from initial design to final delivery and beyond with on-going maintenance.
For instance, in your 2025 strategy, you might implement accessibility checks as part of your development sprints or ensure that user testing includes disabled participants.
By embedding accessibility into your processes, you not only improve the inclusiveness of your products but also reduce the risk of costly retrofits and legal challenges later.
Building capability: Empowering your team
Capability refers to the skills and knowledge within your organisation. Our DAMM underscores the need to build and sustain a workforce that understands and can deliver accessible solutions. This is particularly relevant in a digital strategy, where technology and standards are constantly evolving.
Investing in training and professional development is key to advancing your organisation’s accessibility maturity. This could involve upskilling your design and development teams in accessibility best practices or offering workshops on the latest assistive technologies. The goal is to ensure that everyone in your organisation, from executives to entry-level employees, understands their role in creating accessible digital experiences.
Inclusive procurement: Choosing the right partners
Procurement is often an overlooked aspect of digital strategy, but it plays a critical role in accessibility. The DAMM encourages organisations to consider accessibility when selecting third-party vendors and partners. This means ensuring that any tools, platforms, or services you procure are accessible and that your suppliers share your commitment to digital inclusion.
For your 2025 strategy, this could translate to updating your procurement policies to include accessibility criteria, conducting thorough accessibility audits of potential vendors, and fostering relationships with suppliers who are leaders in accessibility. By prioritising inclusive procurement, you safeguard your organisation’s accessibility standards and extend your commitment to inclusion beyond your internal operations.
Budgeting for accessibility: A strategic investment 
One of the most important aspects of planning your 2025 digital strategy is budgeting for accessibility. The DAMM provides a framework that helps you identify where investment is needed to enhance accessibility and measure the return on that investment.
Whether it’s investing in new technology, training staff, or redesigning existing digital assets, budgeting for accessibility is not just about compliance - it's about creating better experiences for all users.
By using a process such as the DAMM to guide your budgeting decisions, you ensure that resources are allocated effectively, and that accessibility is seen as a strategic investment rather than an afterthought.
This proactive approach helps you avoid the reactive costs associated with accessibility failures, such as extensive remediation, legal fees or lost customers, and positions your organisation as a leader in inclusivity.
Plan… and plan strategically
The AbilityNet Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM) offers a structured approach to integrating accessibility into your organisation’s digital strategy for 2025. By focusing on the crucial key areas of Vision, Leadership, Processes, Capability, and Procurement, our DAMM helps you build a more inclusive and accessible organisation that is prepared to meet the needs of all users.
As you plan for the future, leveraging a strategic approach to planning will ensure that accessibility is not just a bolt-on exercise, but a fundamental part of your journey towards digital excellence.
Join us for a free webinar on Wednesday 23 October at 1pm BST on how the Digital Accessibility Maturity Model can be used to take stock of your current position and identify priorities for action.
This session is aimed at anyone with responsibility for delivering accessibility in their work, to help you think about what you want to achieve in 2025.
Register your free webinar place now
To mark Trustees' Week (4-8 November 2024) we're extending a hearty thank you to our dedicated and energetic 
Headings help users navigate a page visually by showing how the parts of the page relate to each other. They are also important when navigating with assistive technology, as users can build an understanding of the page by reviewing the list of headings and navigating between them. 
We had 441 responses to the survey during August and September 2024.
"Although we’re seeing a slight increase in understanding of digital accessibility, over half the respondents are still stating a lack of skills and experience as one of the main barriers. We need better solutions to improve capability that are relevant and effective. And we need to get accessibility built into higher education courses to close this massive knowledge gap, so that design and computer science graduates enter the workforce with an inbuilt understanding. With the European Accessibility Act (EAA) date fast approaching and affecting so many organisations in the travel industry, it’s imperative we start building better capability right now." - Heather Hepburn, Head of Accessibility, Skyscanner
"It's encouraging to see improvement in business/brand motivators. Once one recognises that inclusion betters your business, because of regulation, competition, or innovation, it becomes far easier to "shift left" the efforts on making their products or culture more inclusive. Inclusion is still too hard and often undervalued, but recognising and embracing the wins allows us to build confidence and momentum into our common goal - a more accessible world, one free from barriers." - Christopher Patnoe, Head of EMEA Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, Google
"Two-thirds of respondents still do not feel very confident in their understanding of digital accessibility. Training remains an issue, with fewer than one-in-six participants strongly agreeing that their institutions help individuals to develop the necessary skills for digital accessibility... Six years on from the introduction of Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR), the sector has much to do in order to fulfil its responsibilities to disabled students." - Julian Tenney, Learning Content Team Leader, University of Nottingham
Wave a magic wand for 2025!
If you're 65 years old or over, or are a disabled adult and live in the following areas (or nearby), and are eager to improve your digital skills, AbilityNet can help!
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Get Online Week
AbilityNet is a digital ambassador for Get Online Week, which is now in its 17th year. We strive to ensure and promote digital inclusion in all we do.
Can you help us change the lives of people experiencing digital exclusion? Get involved this Get Online Week! It offers you a great reason to share your spare time to help people in your community learn basic computer skills.
Why is Get Online Week important?
Disability Awareness Training - Removing mental health barriers
The numbers speak for themselves. According to research from McKinsey, diverse companies do more than just perform well—they thrive.
A diverse workplace naturally creates a more inclusive and understanding environment. When people from different backgrounds come together, there’s a higher likelihood that different mental health needs are recognised and accommodated. This can lead to the creation of tailored mental health support initiatives that resonate with a broader range of employees.
For companies looking to create diverse, happier, and more productive workplaces, services like those provided by AbilityNet can make a meaningful difference. AbilityNet’s inclusive workplace services help organisations foster diversity and inclusion through:
Generative AI systems, such as OpenAI’s GPT, Google’s Gemini, Meta’s Llama or Anthropic’s Claude, have demonstrated incredible capabilities in producing text, code, and even creative outputs like art, music and even video. These technologies have the potential to free up human talent, allowing employees to focus on high-level work. 
Generative AI can assist developers by suggesting code that adheres to best practices in accessibility. For example, AI tools can flag areas where websites lack alternative text for images or where colour contrast may pose difficulties for visually impaired users.
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