What Is Accessibility and Why Do I Need It? A Breakdown

The deadline to meet ADA Title II accessibility compliance – April 24th, 2026 – is fast approaching. Millions of dollars and man-hours have been spent by publishers, institutions, and service providers to meet the thresholds laid out in the Title II ruling.

Much has been written online, including previous posts on Magic EdTech’s blog, about how to meet accessibility compliance and what that entails on a technical level. However, in pursuing the “how” of compliance, the “why” of accessibility has been somewhat unexplored.

What exactly is accessibility compliance?  Do standards need to be lowered to meet accessibility compliance? Other than meeting legal requirements, why should we pursue accessibility?

What Is Accessibility?

The focus of accessibility is in the name – access. Accessibility is the process and discipline of allowing all users of all abilities equal or equivalent access to a thing. This thing could be:

• A location like a public park.
• An object like an informational sign.
• Or something entirely virtual, like an online storefront.

Accessibility is sought after to ensure that if someone has a disability, they can still acquire information or experience a space like people without disabilities can. In the world of publishing and education, accessibility typically refers to digital accessibility, concentrating on things like eTextbooks and Learning Management Systems as key areas of concern.

Accessibility compliance is the process of taking the ideals and goals of accessibility and tying them to standards and regulations in order to make them actionable and attainable. In the United States, a recent ruling from the Department of Justice established that for an institution that receives federal or state funding, materials must use the WCAG 2.1 AA standard as a baseline for accessibility compliance.

Accessibility Standards and Educational Standards: Does One Lower the Other?

Some are under the assumption that complying with accessibility standards means that educational standards must be lowered, that certain content in a digital system must be simplified, or outright cut to meet legal requirements. Not only is this assumption incorrect, but it is also fundamentally against the nature of accessibility. Let’s apply this assumption to a physical environment instead of a digital one.

Imagine if a bank had ATMs with screens that were too high off the ground to be reached by someone in a wheelchair. Instead of procuring new ATMs with screens that can be more comfortably accessed by people in wheelchairs – or any person of a shorter stature – the bank removes all of their ATMs and requires customers to travel to the head branch just to make a simple withdrawal. Now imagine if the head branch of the bank doesn’t have a wheelchair accessible ramp. Should the bank close down forever, preventing everyone from using its services, rather than building a ramp? Obviously not.

The previous example may seem self-evident and maybe even a little ridiculous, but that’s precisely the point. If it isn’t logical to reduce standards with physical accessibility, it isn’t logical to reduce standards with digital accessibility either.

If a video lesson doesn’t have a transcript or captions, educators don’t need to remove the video from their lesson plan – they should provide a transcript and add accurate captions. If a textbook doesn’t offer a digital version with alt-text so that a student who is blind can perceive information that is otherwise visible, a school district shouldn’t remove the book from its curriculum – it should work with the blind student to provide a reasonable accommodation and it should contact the publisher to ensure that the procured materials are made accessible as soon as possible.

Institutions don’t have to remove content to be accessible, nor should they. To do so isn’t giving access to more people, but removing it entirely.

Why Is Accessibility Important?

With all of the complex rules and heady ideals of accessibility, why should people champion accessibility rather than just tolerate it?

1. It Hardly Seems Fair to Block People from a Service Due to No Fault of Their Own

A person can be born with a disability, suffer an accident that leaves them unable to do what they used to, or simply suffer from the complications of aging. It should be the goal of those working in fields like education, publishing, and technology to allow as many people as possible to benefit from the work we often devote our lives to.

2. Many More People Have Disabilities than Is Often Assumed

According to the World Health Organization, one in six people is disabled globally. That’s over one billion people. A product that can’t be used by a person with a disability is a product that isn’t bought by a person with a disability.

3. Accessibility Features Aren’t Just Used by People with Major Disabilities – They Can Benefit All Users

Alt-text benefits the blind, but it can also be a benefit to someone who lost their glasses or someone with a low-bandwidth connection who can’t load pictures. Captions benefit the deaf, but they also benefit those who are hard-of-hearing or those in an environment like a public cafe, where they can’t play videos out loud.

Accessibility: Trends and Future Insights

Ultimately, accessibility compliance is the process of making materials that can be accessed by people of all abilities. Complying with accessibility doesn’t mean that standards need to be lowered or content needs to be removed. In fact, the pursuit of accessibility can benefit everybody, from student to educator, vendor to client, and able-bodied to disabled. Accessibility practices shouldn’t just be present until the ADA Title II deadline, but be an active practice at organizations going forward.