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Demand for accessibility monitoring surges

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The adoption of monitoring tools and testing tools for accessibility has doubled since 2021 according to a survey conducted by two specialist vendors in that market space: Level Access and eSSENTIAL Accessibility, which merged earlier this year.

Surveying more than 1,000 accessibility professionals in 35 industries, the survey found that 91% of those respondents are using free accessibility tools in their DevOps process, primarily employing browser extensions and page testers. Meanwhile, 77.3% are using monitoring tools, a proportion which has increased significantly from 33% in 2021.

“This year’s results show accessibility is becoming a mainstream priority. Governance is maturing. Funding is formalising. And more organisations are incorporating accessibility earlier in their development and creation processes,” said Tim Springer, CEO of eSSENTIAL Accessibility and Level Access (pictured).

“We’re moving away from a strictly compliance-focused ‘we have to do this’ conversation, to an inspired commitment to making a positive impact in the lives of digital users. Such a shift signals maturity in the way organisations are thinking about, adopting, and incorporating digital accessibility,” Springer added.

There’s room for growth in the accessibility testing marketplace with 36.5% of respondents in QA roles rating their organisation’s accessibility testing practices as “in progress” and only  22.1% rating their practices as “mature”.

The biggest challenge firms face is: “Incorporating accessibility earlier in the development lifecycle” with a growing number of respondents citing this as a key challenge.

While 37.3% of organisations are not undertaking testing with people with disabilities, the number is down significantly from 47.2% in the 2021 survey.

The survey was released in collaboration with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) and the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), which work to promote awareness of accessibility and advocate for benchmarking and certification.