No, it's not "fully accessible"

The phrase "fully accessible" gets thrown around a lot. I'm sure I've used it in the past, without actually thinking through what it means. Recently, I've encountered it when trying to review products. It's happened so often that it triggers alarm bells in my head. It made me realize that I need to be careful about the claims I make, too.

In this post, I want to share why it makes me suspicious, and what I'll be saying in the future.

It's not true

Whatever you build, I'm quite sure it's not fully accessible. You probably mean it "meets all the accessibility requirements".

"Fully" means completely, or without lack. It requires that there are no exceptions. If you meet your level of WCAG without exceptions, you've done a great job. I've worked with a lot of teams who struggle to get to this stage, but that's still not "fully accessible".

To understand why, we need to consider what we actually mean by accessible. Accessibility is the extent to which disabled people can use something. Other users might benefit, too, but that's not in the definition of accessibility.

Some organizations have lumped topics like multilingualism and technical compatibility into accessibility projects. This might make business sense. Solving these problems might need similar skills, but this isn't accessibility.

So, it seems like "fully accessible" means it works for anyone with any possible disability. No exceptions are allowed, since it's fully. This is something every service should aspire to - not creating any barriers for any users.

But it's never going to be possible. Disability is complex. Disabled people are diverse. There are too combinations of disabilities, some of which are rare. There are intersectional factors, too many possible ones to list. Building things to meet the needs of every possible disabled person is an enormous task. If we wait for it to work for absolutely everyone, it will never be released.

If we can't guarantee that it works for everyone, should we give up? No. It just means we, working in this field, will always have more to learn and more work to do.

It's potentially harmful

Imagine that you did declare that your web site or app is "fully accessible". What does that mean for someone who can't access it due to something disability related? Imagine they reach out to your company to share their frustrating experience. You've got the potential to learn something meaningful, something you can improve. Now imagine that the answer is "our service is fully accessible". The subtext here is "there's nothing for us to fix". That means it's their fault, not yours.

It is too easy to blame users when something doesn't quite work. In reality, you can always do more. Things can always be improved in every service. If you're not acknowledging this, you're hurting any users who do have problems. You're telling them "we've done our bit", there's nothing left to do here. This way, you'll miss out on anything helpful or interesting they might want to share.

On a different level, it can undermine your efforts. If you make big, unfounded claims, those of us with knowledge of the nuance will get suspicious. This includes disabled people, accessibility professionals, and those of us in both camps. The bigger the claims, the more scrutiny you should expect.

What to do instead

In short: be more specific.

If you want to describe the current situation, clarify exactly what you mean. For example:

• This website is fully conformant with WCAG 2.2 at AA level.
• All parts of this website have been tested with VoiceOver on a Mac. Don't say "with screen readers" unless you've actually tested several.
• Usability tests involving participants with intellectual disabilities have been undertaken.
• All pages are scanned regularly with an automatic accessibility scanner.

If you're talking about an aspiration, some of this won't apply. "Fully accessible" is a good aspiration to have, as long as you're realistic about what it will look like:

We aim to be fully accessible. If you experience something that doesn't work for you, we want to hear about it.

Be honest, be precise. It helps people who need to assess and verify your claims. More importantly, it helps your users get an accurate picture of what to expect.