Building for Everyone: Accessibility Careers
One billion people worldwide live with disabilities. Yet most digital products are built without considering their needs. Accessibility—designing and developing products usable by people with disabilities—is both a moral imperative and a growing career field.
As regulations tighten and companies recognize the value of inclusive design, demand for accessibility expertise is growing. For tech professionals who want their work to have clear human impact, accessibility offers meaningful opportunities.
What Is Accessibility?
Core Concept
Digital accessibility ensures people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with digital products. This includes people with:
- Visual disabilities: Blindness, low vision, color blindness
- Hearing disabilities: Deafness, hard of hearing
- Motor disabilities: Limited fine motor control, inability to use mouse
- Cognitive disabilities: Learning disabilities, attention disorders, memory issues
- Temporary and situational disabilities: Broken arm, bright sunlight, noisy environment
Why Accessibility Matters
Human impact:
- Enables independence for people with disabilities
- Improves experience for everyone (curb cuts benefit many)
- Essential for equal access to digital services
Business case:
- Legal compliance (ADA, Section 508, EAA)
- Larger addressable market
- SEO benefits (accessibility overlaps with good structure)
- Brand reputation
Accessibility Career Paths
Accessibility Engineer
The primary technical role:
- Implement accessible components and features
- Fix accessibility issues in existing products
- Build accessible design systems
- Create testing tools and automation
Skills: Frontend development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), ARIA, screen reader testing, accessibility APIs
Accessibility Specialist/Consultant
Non-coding accessibility expertise:
- Conduct accessibility audits
- Create remediation plans
- Train teams on accessibility
- Advise on accessibility strategy
Skills: WCAG expertise, testing with assistive technologies, communication, training
Accessibility Program Manager
Organizational accessibility leadership:
- Develop accessibility programs
- Coordinate across teams
- Track compliance and progress
- Manage accessibility initiatives
Inclusive Designer
Design-focused accessibility:
- Design with accessibility from the start
- Create inclusive user experiences
- Advocate for disabled users in design process
- Develop accessible design patterns
Accessibility Researcher
Understanding user needs:
- Conduct research with disabled users
- Identify accessibility pain points
- Inform product decisions
- Evaluate accessibility effectiveness
Getting Into Accessibility
Learning Path
- Understand the basics: WCAG 2.2, disability types, assistive technologies
- Learn to test: Screen readers (NVDA, VoiceOver), keyboard navigation, automated tools
- Practice fixing issues: Take inaccessible components and make them accessible
- Build accessible features: Implement accessibility in your work
- Get certified (optional): IAAP certification (CPACC, WAS)
Key Technical Skills
For developers:
- Semantic HTML
- ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications)
- Keyboard interaction patterns
- Screen reader compatibility
- Focus management
- Color contrast and visual design
Testing skills:
- Manual testing with assistive technologies
- Automated testing tools (axe, Lighthouse)
- WCAG conformance evaluation
Resources
- W3C WAI: Official Web Accessibility Initiative resources
- Deque University: Comprehensive accessibility training
- WebAIM: Practical guides and resources
- A11y Project: Community-driven accessibility resource
- Screen reader tutorials: Learn to use NVDA, VoiceOver, JAWS
Accessibility Compensation
Accessibility roles pay competitively:
- Accessibility Engineer (mid): $120,000-$170,000
- Accessibility Engineer (senior): $160,000-$220,000
- Accessibility Specialist/Consultant: $90,000-$160,000
- Accessibility Program Manager: $130,000-$190,000
- Head of Accessibility: $180,000-$280,000
Big tech companies and financial services often pay at the higher end.
The Accessibility Job Market
Where Accessibility Roles Exist
- Tech companies: Most major tech companies have accessibility teams
- Financial services: Heavily regulated, strong accessibility needs
- Government and public sector: Legal requirements drive demand
- Consulting firms: Specialized accessibility consultancies
- E-commerce: Retail accessibility important and regulated
- Healthcare: Critical accessibility needs
Demand Trends
The accessibility job market is growing:
- Increasing legal requirements (EAA in Europe, lawsuits in US)
- More companies taking accessibility seriously
- Shortage of qualified practitioners
- Accessibility becoming part of quality expectations
Challenges in Accessibility Careers
Common Frustrations
- Retrofitting existing products is harder than building accessible from start
- Accessibility often deprioritized against feature work
- Resistance from teams unfamiliar with accessibility
- Measuring success can be challenging
- Keeping up with evolving standards
What Makes It Worth It
- Direct human impact—enabling people to use products they couldn’t before
- Strong purpose and meaning in work
- Growing field with increasing demand
- Expertise that differentiates you
- Improving the web for everyone
Women in Accessibility
Accessibility has relatively strong women representation:
- Many accessibility pioneers are women
- Strong community support
- Emphasis on empathy and user advocacy aligns with diverse perspectives
- Interdisciplinary nature attracts diverse backgrounds
Getting Started Today
If accessibility interests you:
- Use a screen reader: Navigate familiar websites with VoiceOver or NVDA
- Audit something: Use axe DevTools to check a website
- Fix something: Make an inaccessible component accessible
- Take a course: Web accessibility fundamentals
- Join the community: A11y Slack, accessibility meetups, conferences
Accessibility needs advocates throughout tech. Whether you specialize or simply bring accessibility awareness to your existing role, you’ll make technology better for everyone.
Connect with accessibility-focused companies at WomenHack events.