Why digital accessibility projects often fail
Accessibility is a complex project. In my experience, however, there are three aspects in particular where accessibility projects mainly fail or go beyond the scope.
My customers can't hear it anymore: No matter what the topic, if you want or need to implement accessibility, you have to plan for it from the beginning. If you don't, you are responsible if a project fails or is significantly delayed. I like the image with the raisin cake. You don't bake the cake first and try to put the raisins in afterwards somehow.
Digital accessibility is often pirated down, which can cause the project to fail or drag out.
Qualify employees
Employees often don't see the need for accessibility measures. Because of this, they will implement many things sloppily. That's why training and awareness are necessary: Training so stakeholders know how to implement it, awareness so they know why they should implement it. There are now numerous offerings from free YouTube channels to sinfully expensive training packages, there will be something for your organization. The argument that it's too expensive is no longer acceptable with the wide variety of offerings.
Another important reason for failure is the lack of interest on the part of managers. This ranges from the responsible project manager to the executive board. Experience shows that the lack of interest, actively or passively displayed, also reduces interest in implementation among those involved.
Clear briefings
This is another thing my clients can't hear anymore, but we need clear briefings. "Make it accessible" is as helpful as "Live healthy." Especially for inexperienced service providers, clear requirements and frameworks are important. For internal editors, for example, instructions also need to be provided. The customer does not have to be an expert, but he must either define exactly what he wants or be aware of his lack of expertise and let us advise him - as a paid service, of course. And he must also be prepared to implement these recommendations or take responsibility if he doesn't.
Conclusion
When I recap, most accessibility measures fail or are delayed because of the three factors mentioned above. It's so complicated because you make it too hard on yourself.
In the end, it's a question of the right or wrong framing: Many persons in charge still look at accessibility from a charity perspective - you can do it, but you can also let it be. Instead, it should be seen as an added value for everyone and a quality feature.