Imagine you’re in the middle of launching a new coffee shop. You’ve got your developers building the storefront & implementing its features to your specifications. Designers are carefully laying out where people will sit, the flow to the counter, the signs to draw people’s attention to featured drinks and pastries. Everything looks great and you’re all ready for grand opening day. But when opening day comes and you invite customers in – you realize, you and your team never built a door. Your friends, community, and customers aren’t able to get in and experience your new shop.
Does that sound unimaginable or silly to you? It shouldn’t. This is what happens every day to users across websites, apps, and software when accessibility is not at the forefront of their design and development processes. They get shut out and shut off from being able to experience the end product, which never bothered to account for them.