The internet has come a long way since its early days of clunky dial-up connections, flashing web banners, and endless "under construction" pages. What was once originally built as a tool for scientists to share information quickly exploded into a global phenomenon — reshaping how we live, work, learn, and communicate.
Today, an estimated 5.4 billion people — nearly two-thirds of the global population — are online (and some of us probably more than we should be). The internet has become our everything, from our marketplace, to our office, or classroom.
But as the internet has drastically expanded without real regulation, the cracks have started to show. And for millions, especially those with disabilities, it’s now impossible to not fall down them.
Yes… in 2025, it’s weird to think that millions of people are excluded from the design of the digital world, but without deliberate design, progress leaves people behind — and that's where accessibility standards come in.
When we talk about accessibility, we’re not just talking about adding a few features for a small group of people who can’t do a very niche task on a website, but rather asking if everyone, regardless of their ability, can fully engage with the digital world.
Why standards matter
Accessibility Standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) exist to ensure we’re creating a web that works for everyone. Without clear standards, digital products can leave huge parts of the population behind – sometimes unintentionally, and sometimes through neglect.
If you don’t quite grasp the scale of the issue, think about how strange it would be to build a city with no pavements, no street signs, and areas accessible to only select groups of people. That’s what the internet feels like to millions of users when accessibility isn’t built in from the start.
A rising tide of digitisation
Over the past decade, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in how services are delivered.
From booking GP appointments and managing wills to banking, shopping, or signing contracts — it’s all conveniently online now! And increasingly, it's online only.
In 2024, 93% of UK adults reported recent internet use, with more than 9 in 10 adults under 75 now relying on the internet for daily tasks (ONS). As more services shift to a digital-first approach, the ability to navigate these systems has become essential.
Sectors like healthcare, legal services, estate planning, and finance have rapidly digitised, streamlining access and reducing paperwork, sadly, not always with accessibility in mind.
That means the very tools designed to make life easier can actually make it harder for the people who need them most, and whilst public sector organisations are held to accessibility regulations, the private sector often isn’t.
In fact, most private websites still fall short of even basic accessibility requirements, with 97.4% of the top 1 million websites globally still containing accessibility issues. If any of those 1 million websites are a provider of a service commonly used by most people, failing to meet those standards isn’t just inconvenient — it’s exclusion.
Moreover, what’s shocking is that a 2024 review found that 4 in 10 local council homepages still fail simple accessibility checks! That’s not ‘just a technical issue’ that we can look past or find a way around, that’s someone missing a rent payment, an urgent medical update, or access to vital support!
As we adopt these digital-first processes, accessibility can’t be an afterthought, because a barrier online, is now a barrier to our lives offline.
The cost of exclusion
Accessibility should matter to businesses and providers as much as it matters to those members of the public using their websites. When digital spaces aren’t designed to be accessible, people are shut out, and businesses lose out.
In as early as 2016, 4 million people abandoned a retail website because of accessibility barriers, causing businesses to lose an estimated £11.75 billion. This figure of losses increased to £17.1 billion in 2019.
It’s not just a decrease in revenue, it’s lost sales, lost trust, and lost customers who may not return. This is what became known as the Click-Away Pound – businesses losing money because disabled users couldn’t - or wouldn’t - complete their purchase.
And it’s not just online shopping. Banks, supermarkets, restaurants, phone providers, and energy companies have all seen revenue walk away because their digital spaces didn’t work for everyone.
It’s a clear pattern:
- 71% of people with access needs leave a site that’s hard to use
- 83% limit their spending to websites they know are accessible
- 86% say they’ve paid more for a product just to use a more accessible site
Once again, the data proves that accessibility cannot be something we push off to the side; it should be built into everything we create online. Inaccessible websites can mean missed job opportunities, blocked access to public services, or total exclusion from essential information; this is unacceptable, especially in a world facing more frequent cyber threats, extreme weather events, and cost-of-living pressures.
When people can’t independently navigate the online world, they lose more than convenience — they lose autonomy. It’s important to understand that accessibility isn’t just about revenue and sales, it’s also about rights.
Where we’re heading
It’s fair to assume technology will continue to advance at an unimaginable pace, and so should our accessibility standards!
With AI, voice interfaces, and immersive experiences reshaping the digital world, we're designing for a future that barely existed five years ago, and we know how quickly time can fly (especially when you’re chronically online).
But that progress brings a risk: if accessibility isn't baked into the next wave of innovation, we’ll only repeat the mistakes of the past and cause people to fall behind, again, and again, and again.
It's easy to get caught up in what’s new — new interfaces and clever platforms that automate everything, but the basics still matter and need addressing.
If someone can’t navigate your site with a keyboard, or use a screen reader to access essential information, no amount of shiny innovation will make up for that gap. Accessibility needs to evolve alongside technology, not trail behind it. So rather than thinking of accessibility like a checkbox we drag ourselves out of bed to complete, it should be a part of our design mindset, from day one!
Wake up, put on your accessibility hat, and start asking:
- Can everyone use this?
- Can everyone understand this?
- Can everyone access the benefits of this?
Governments are slowly catching up. In the UK, the Disability Action Plan 2024 has committed to researching accessibility gaps in the private sector — a long-overdue step toward potential regulation.
But as a business, you shouldn’t wait for the law to tell you to care. Instead, you should care about the experience your users have when using your site and if that experience is a good and equal one for everybody.
The most forward-thinking companies aren’t just compliant — they’re inclusive by default, and they realise that accessible design gives them a competitive edge.
It’s what builds loyalty, trust, and future-proof digital ecosystems, so let’s all be a part of it.
A more human (?) internet
The takeaway motto from this is when we make websites accessible, we make them better for everyone.
(Let’s read it over a few times, to make sure it sticks!)
Now it’s time to talk about the benefits. There’s plenty to having an accessible website;
- Accessible websites are faster, clearer, easier to use, and more resilient.
- They rank better in search engines.
- They serve wider audiences, meet new customers, and build stronger loyalty.
- They reflect businesses that are thinking bigger — and those trying to create a better world (an important part of brand image, in today’s oversaturated markets!)
The need for widespread web accessibility is becoming more urgent, because if we are to be a truly digital society, we need to be truly inclusive (otherwise, are we even a society at all…??!!).
Your Next Step
At Formation, we specialise in building beautiful, functional, and genuinely accessible websites — not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes better digital experiences for everyone! Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to improve your existing platform, we’re the people to speak to!
If you’re just learning about accessibility, and are curious about what accessibility standards involve, we’ve broken them down in simple terms here:
We hope it helps!
Happy exploring — and best of luck in making your website and digital space more accessible.
