Digital accessibility watch June - July 2026

Things are a bit quieter these past two months—vacation season, I suppose...
That said, I came across an article I found really interesting about how people with disabilities report accessibility issues (fr): https://access42.net/comment-personnes-handicapees-signalent-problemes-accessibilite/.
Happy reading!

Accessibility in laws, standards, and recommendations #

WCAG 3.2.3 Consistent navigation in detail: https://tarnoff.info/2026/06/22/a11y-101-3-2-3-consistent-navigation/
India’s new accessibility law means more regulation and control: https://theprint.in/tech/global-tech-firms-to-come-under-indias-mandatory-disability-access-rules-face-fines-licence-risk/2997906/
A guide to EPUB 1.2 accessibility—the definitive resource: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-a11y-explain-12/
WCAG 3.2.1 On focus: https://tarnoff.info/2026/06/08/a11y-101-3-2-1-on-focus/
WCAG 3.2.2 On input: https://tarnoff.info/2026/06/15/a11y-101-3-2-2-on-input/
Introduction to EN 17161, the European standard for accessibility implementation methods: https://www.deque.com/blog/why-the-digital-accessibility-community-should-embrace-en-17161/
WCAG 3.2.4 Consistent identification: https://tarnoff.info/2026/06/29/a11y-101-3-2-4-consistent-identification/
WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or instructions: https://tarnoff.info/2026/07/20/a11y-101-3-3-2-labels-or-instructions/

Accessibility implementation strategy #

SEO shares similarities with accessibility but isn't enough: https://afixt.com/seo-is-not-accessibility-and-we-have-the-data-to-prove-it/
More details on EN 17161—worth reading: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2026AprJun/0035.html
Preventing accessibility regressions in your organization: https://vispero.com/resources/accessibility-regression/
Gradually increasing your accessibility maturity level: https://vispero.com/resources/building-an-accessibility-program/

Testing accessibility #

Testing with a keyboard: https://a11ywithdiana.substack.com/p/one-key-can-reveal-hundreds-of-accessibility
A PDF accessibility checker tool: https://pdfuacheck.speedata.de/
Testing with the console, Part 2: https://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/console2.html
4 articles on automated testing and how to improve:

Technical points #

CSS grid lanes, accessibility risks: https://matuzo.at/blog/2026/grid-lanes-accessibility
Menu with link + button, worth trying: https://adrianroselli.com/2026/07/link-popover-navigation.html
aria-expanded examples, comprehensive: https://piccalil.li/blog/use-cases-for-aria-expanded/
Still partial support for the ARIA notification API: https://www.oidaisdes.org/blog/aria-notify-browser-support/
Making table rows clickable—best avoided: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/clickable-table-rows-are-a-bad-idea
Key tips for accessible cards: https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/
Importance of the accessible name: https://blog.pope.tech/2026/07/01/accessible-name/

Insights & Experiences #

ARIA refresher: https://tarnoff.info/2025/05/05/k-i-s-s-aria/
Hope for headings at a "fluid" level: https://matuzo.at/blog/2026/grid-lanes-accessibility
Life as an accessibility specialist: what you need to know... so true: https://www.testwithlabrador.com/blog/life-as-an-accessibility-specialist
5 risks of an accessibility project failing: https://www.neilosman.com/posts/five-risks-accessibility/
Finding everyone's motivation for accessibility: https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/wiifm-the-motivational-question-behind-every/
Why so few reports on accessibility issues: https://metamatrix.se/blogg/why-so-few-report-accessibility-problems/
Design systems and a11y: https://equalentry.com/how-to-scale-accessibility/
Making PDFs accessible: still complicated: https://silktide.com/blog/pdf-matterhorn-pros-and-cons/
When an audit feels overwhelming: https://intopia.digital/articles/how-i-limit-overwhelm-when-auditing/

Mobile apps & mobile web #

Adding semantics to SwiftUI: https://wesleydegroot.nl/blog/semantic-accessibility-in-swiftui
Should screen titles have heading semantics? Spoiler: yes: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2026/07/22/should-the-screen-title-be-a-heading/
New edition of "Developing Inclusive Mobile Apps" by Rob Whitaker—comprehensive coverage for understanding mobile accessibility and learning techniques in Jetpack Compose and SwiftUI: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/979-8-8688-2809-6

Assistive technologies #

Key assistive technologies: https://vale.rocks/posts/digital-accessibility-technologies
An AI assistant for screen reader users: https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3772318.3790661

Usability, UI & UX #

A reminder: stop using "click here": https://unsung.aresluna.org/use-links-dont-talk-about-them/
Personal names, not so simple—worth a read: https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names.fr.html
Testing prototype accessibility with users: https://www.loop11.com/prototype-testing-for-inclusive-and-accessible-web-design/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) #

Why avoiding AI is an act of resistance (since nothing is accessible): https://tink.uk/accessibility-is-resistance/
AI-generated UIs vs. designer-created UIs regarding accessibility—an interesting comparison: https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3800424.3800430
Reflections on AI and accessibility: https://www.erikkroes.nl/blog/accessibility-and-ai/
A safeguard for development using AI agents: https://github.com/fecarrico/A11Y.md
AI helps with accessibility—provided it was already implemented: https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/can-your-ai-pass-the-accessibility-test/

Resources #

Preparing for WCAG 3? Or else...: https://nicolas-steenhout.com/wcag-3-transition-phase/
An open-source Windows API inspection tool inspired by the old aViewer: https://github.com/stevefaulkner/aViewer---moderno
Accessibility testing in general, and in WordPress specifically: https://wpaccessibility.org/docs/testing/
Best practices for an accessibility project—new to me: https://opensource.guide/accessibility-best-practices-for-your-project/
Accessibility basics—good, but for beginners: https://www.solidstart.info/
Making content accessible to people with reading difficulties: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2026/06/25/designing-for-reading-disabilities/

Other #

Hiring people with disabilities benefits everyone: https://abilitycentral.org/article/why-hiring-people-with-disabilities-benefits-everyone