Digital accessibility watch June - July 2025

Part of the Orange Accessibility Competence Center team was at A11Y Paris at the end of June. Many people and an always interesting program, another great opportunity for peer-to-peer exchanges with newcomers on a growing topic...
I wasn't aware of all these public sector A11Y grants. Here's a good summary from Access42 (fr): https://access42.net/aides-financement-accessibilite-numerique-secteur-public/.
We're celebrating the implementation of the EAA (European Accessibility Act) on June 28, 2025. Here's a great summary of this European act: https://digitalaccessibilitycentre.org/blogs/NewEAA-20241217.html#common-requirements-for-all-products-and-services.
Still lots to read during these holidays!

Accessibility in Laws, Standards, and Recommendations #

• Evaluation of the accessibility of public digital services in France in 2024, could do better (fr): https://beta.gouv.fr/accessibilite/evaluation-2024
• An interactive map highlighting the level of (non)compliance of 6,568 French municipalities (fr): https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/mesure-de-laccessibilite-des-sites-web-des-commun:e_1189554
• Some key points for understanding ARIA: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/06/what-i-wish-someone-told-me-aria/
• What's new in ARIA 1.3: https://webaim.org/blog/up-and-coming-aria/
• Another article on the EAA: https://www.startyourbusinessmag.com/blog/2025/06/12/accessibility-is-not-an-option-what-the-european-accessibility-act-eaa-means-for-you/
• EN 301549: https://digitalaccessibilitycentre.org/blogs/EN-301-549-20250122.html
• WCAG 2.2.1 Time Adjustable Criterion Explained: https://tarnoff.info/2025/07/07/a11y-101-2-2-1-timing-adjustable/
• WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard Navigation: https://tarnoff.info/2025/06/09/a11y-101-2-1-1-keyboard/
• EAA FAQ: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/18/eaa-faq/
• EAA and its local transpositions: https://equalizedigital.com/european-accessibility-act/#:~:text=Requirements by Country
• Explanations of 1.14.3 Content on hover or focus: https://tarnoff.info/2025/06/02/a11y-101-1-4-13-content-on-hover-or-focus/

Accessibility Implementation Strategy #

• Whimsy and A11y: https://goodinternetmagazine.com/can-accessibility-be-whimsical/
• Selfish reasons for using A11y: https://nolanlawson.com/2025/06/16/selfish-reasons-for-building-accessible-uis/
• Design system and A11y: https://www.voorhoede.nl/en/blog/accessibility-in-design-systems/
• 100% compliant site and beyond: https://www.temesis.com/blog/un-site-totalement-conforme-au-rgaa-l-est-il-vraiment/
• Being an A11y champion: https://equalentry.com/championing-accessibility/
• AccessibilityOps transcribed from an A11y Paris conference (fr): https://blog.hello-bokeh.fr/2025/06/26/accessibilityops-passage-a-lechelle/#Mesurer-le-niveau-d’accessibilité-des-personnes
• Arguments to convince people to adopt A11y: https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/how-to-convince-people-to-care-and-invest-in-accessibility/

Testing accessibility #

• 5 major A11y mistakes and how to identify and correct them: https://intopia.digital/articles/top-5-web-accessibility-issues-2024/
• Confusion over the WCAG role, name, value 4.1.2 criterion: https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/07/08/short-note-wcag-aria-state-of-confusion/
• Good A11y checklists: https://equalizedigital.com/creating-an-effective-website-accessibility-checklist/
• Lots of explanations about WCAG criteria and how to test them, great: https://www.dennisdeacon.com/

Technical Points #

• What to translate and what not: https://www.tpgi.com/translating-accessibility/
• Accessible name and label, a quick fix: https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/07/14/a-label-and-a-name-walk-into-a-bar/
• Where to set focus when opening a modal: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/06/where-to-put-focus-when-opening-a-modal-dialog.html
• ARIA-selected explained: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/aria-selected/
• FALC as an A11y tool, good writing practice (fr): https://blog.ipedis.com/langage-clair-accessibilite-cognitive-et-accessibilite-numerique?_hsmi=369355244
• The A11y of popovers, interview with Hidde De Vries: https://lolaslab.co/what-the-spec/s01/ep02/
• Contextualizing your link titles: https://heydonworks.com/article/accessible-rick-rolling/
• Selecting all in a table: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/07/check-uncheck-all-in-a-table.html
• Keeping it simple with ARIA: https://tarnoff.info/2025/05/05/k-i-s-s-aria/
• Page routing and A11y in front-end frameworks: https://www.tpgi.com/client-side-routing-accessibility/
• Still on SPAs and A11y: https://afixt.com/ensuring-accessibility-in-single-page-applications-a-comprehensive-guide/
• Is it a list or a table of data? Interesting: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/are-you-sure-that-table-isnt-a-list
• Hierarchy in HTML tables: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/hierarchy-in-tables
• Developing accessible HTML tables: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/hierarchy-in-tables
• An update on SVG and A11Y: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/svg-accessibility/
• Several solutions for making floating action buttons accessible: https://danny-payne.medium.com/accessibility-options-for-floating-action-buttons-99bdf8146988

Back From experience #

• CSS that break A11y, read (fr): https://www.alsacreations.com/article/lire/1951-quand-css-casse-accessibilite.html
• A request for Google products, make it A11y from the design stage: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/05/my-request-to-google-on-accessibility.html
• Where to put focus when opening a modal: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/06/where-to-put-focus-when-opening-a-modal-dialog.html
• Shame on making code that's ugly and therefore not A11y: https://heydonworks.com/article/pride-shame-and-accessibility/
• A look back at the IAAP certification and keeping it, I quite agree: https://www.nicchan.me/blog/was-my-iaap-certification-worth-it/
• Some ideas for guerrilla a11y: https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/eight-skunkworks-projects-that-advance/
• 5 a11y points to include in your design system: https://a11y.is/articles/five-accessibility-opportunities-for-design-systems/
• Visibility and focus management: https://www.tpgi.com/managing-focus-and-visible-focus-indicators-practical-accessibility-guidance-for-the-web/
• Another example of an a11y overlay, it still doesn't work: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/07/arty-could-get-you-sued.html

Mobile app, web Mobile #

• Test keyboard navigation on mobile: https://github.com/workday-accessibility/accessibility-eval/blob/main/keyboard.md
• iOS 26 brings a host of accessibility improvements, especially for the visually impaired: https://convergeaccessibility.com/2025/07/07/ios-26-accessibility-blind-iphone-users/
• A new app for learning about accessibility on iOS, with lots of explanations, code examples, and even a game to learn how to use accessibility options—we wish we'd invented it!: https://apps.apple.com/pl/app/accessibility-handbook/id6443476485
• iOS Accessibility Inspector - the foundation for checking your developments: https://dev.to/steady5063/ios-accessibility-inspector-beyond-automation-2cl2
• The Accessibility Nutriscore is now available on the Apple Store: https://canaxess.com.au/articles/closer-look-apples-accessibility-nutrition-labels/
• The latest accessibility news on Android: https://youtu.be/fKY6qYxytLI?si=okkNhxshybp2KiLY

Assistive technologies #

• Documenting the UX for Screen Reader Users, The Guide: https://bbc.github.io/accessibility-news-and-you/guides/screen-reader-ux.html
• HTML support in Jaws and NVDA4: What's the status?: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/10/html-support/
• The rest of the HTML/AT compatibility tests: https://tetralogical.github.io/screen-reader-HTML-support/
• Keyboard traps and their user impact, read: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/keyboard-trap/
• Which ATs for which disabilities: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/28/foundations-types-of-assistive-technology-and-adaptive-strategies/

Ergonomics, UI & UX #

• Motion sensitivity, how to do it right: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/web-sensitivity-how-to-design-accessible-animations/
• UX and notifications: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/07/design-guidelines-better-notifications-ux/
• Building an A11y infographic, step by step: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/accessible-infographics/
• UX, cognitive impairment, and WCAG 2.2 criteria: https://coforma.io/perspectives/give-users-brains-a-break-ux-tips-for-cognitive-accessibility
• Content writing and cognitive impairment: https://www.digitalaccesstraining.com/pages/articles?p=cognitive-accessibility-writing-copy-that-works
• Designing for cognitive impairment on the web: https://afixt.com/designing-for-cognitive-disabilities-best-practices-for-an-inclusive-web/
• Digital design and neuro-divergents: https://knowaboutaccessibility.org/2025/07/17/5-simple-fixes-that-make-digital-spaces-calmer-for-neurodivergent-and-all-users/
• Design pattern for conversational agents: https://www.mulebooks.com/conversational-design
• Design pattern for dashboards: https://dashboarddesignpatterns.github.io/

AI #

• AI and A11Y, solutions and problems: https://www.teachaccess.org/where-ai-meets-accessibility-considerations-for-higher-education-toolkit/
• Design Pattern for AI Interfaces: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/07/design-patterns-ai-interfaces/

Resources #

• Thoughts on WCAG 2.2 and 3.0, not Wrong: https://blog.logrocket.com/ux-design/wcag-3-vs-2-ux/
• Do it and prove it rather than say you're doing a11y: https://afixt.com/designing-for-cognitive-disabilities-best-practices-for-an-inclusive-web/
• 4 Lightning Talks from A11yNYC: https://equalentry.com/accessibility-lightning-talks/
• Motion Sensitivity and How to Do It Right on the Web: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/web-sensitivity-how-to-design-accessible-animations/
• List of games based on their accessibility: https://caniplaythat.com/
• To make a conference accessible (fr): https://access42.net/conference-presentation-accessible-bonnes-pratiques-outils/
• The experience of an a11y expert, so true: https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/06/youre-not-an-accessibility-specialist-until-youve/
• Reading order in PowerPoint: https://access42.net/ordre-lecture-powerpoint-accessibilite/
• Interesting videos on A11Y by Intopia: https://www.youtube.com/@intopia

Other #

• Accessibility is also important for video games and consoles, with the Nintendo Switch 2 serving as an example in this regard (in): https://www.theverge.com/nintendo/686591/nintendo-switch-2-accessibility-features-analysis
• A way to advance A11Y?: https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts/20250724/
• Mid-Year Report on ADA Complaints: https://blog.usablenet.com/2025-midyear-accessibility-lawsuit-report-key-legal-trends
• When to Raise Red Flags for Accessibility: https://accessiblelink.substack.com/p/red-flags-for-accessibility https://accessiblelink.substack.com/p/red-flags-for-accessibility
• A shared opinion on the progress of ADA: https://steady.page/en/075ca46e-c27f-49fb-946a-f1aa90a08e0d/posts/a1113fe6-287b-4dfe-a06d-28ff8ec0cc70
• Jobs not suitable for A11Y jobs: https://www.craigabbott.co.uk/blog/mission-impossible-accessibility-job-roles/