Digital accessibility: How the new Accessibility Reinforcement Act opens digital doors

23.07.2025

An ATM that can only be operated by touch. An app that uses colors but offers no contrast. An online store that you can't use without a mouse. For many people with disabilities, these are everyday barriers - digital doors that remain closed. But this is now a thing of the past: since June 28, 2025, the new Accessibility Reinforcement Act has obliged many companies to make their digital products accessible. Annett Farnetani, CEO of mindscreen GmbH, explains exactly what this means, why accessibility is more than just a legal obligation - and how it can become a driver of innovation. She advises companies on digital inclusion and knows why now is the right time to rethink.

What are the typical mistakes that can happen with accessibility?

Annett Farnetani: For example, that a product cannot be operated with a keyboard. This means that we cannot jump to and activate all interactive components using the keyboard controls, the tab key or the enter and arrow keys. This means, for example, that when we jump to a navigation, it must be possible to open and close it, everything must be activatable. Another big issue that is very easy to solve, purely in terms of knowledge, is the color contrasts. Especially if the CI colors of the company are perhaps light orange or light blue, then it is difficult to see. There is a fear that companies will have to change their entire system, which would be a huge effort. There are a lot of people and approval bodies involved who have to confirm this somehow, but that's not how it's meant to be. You can work with a CI that is not sufficiently high-contrast as long as the color is not used to convey knowledge or content. In other words, the text must not be in light yellow or light blue. This is, for example, a typical problem that we have to look at in the beginning. But there are also basic programming topics that are missing or not done, basic HTML that is not implemented. Alternative texts are often missing, that's the classic. Here you have to consider that the WCRG (the Web Content Accessibility Guideline, which turned 25 last year) contains specifications, for example how high the color contrast must be and how the keyboard control is regulated. And yet it is still implemented on so few sites.

And what role does a platform like CAAT play in all this?

Annett Farnetani: CAAT was born directly out of our aspirations as an accessibility service provider. One of the main aspects of digital accessibility is testing. We get a product and usually the start is testing the product. This testing process is very time-consuming. There is no automatic solution. There are parts that can be solved automatically, but most of the time a person has to test and check manually, write the recommendations and adapt them depending on the context to see which solution is possible. There are always different solutions. To make this process as efficient and effective as possible, we have developed CAAT. From the catalog that is used for testing, to the testing process itself, to the output of a report that can then be exported to certain ticket systems if necessary, we wanted to make everything as simple as possible. This allows testers to concentrate on their knowledge and their work and, for example, work together with people with disabilities who may only test certain test steps in team testing. Our aim was to ensure that testers are also diverse and that more people with disabilities are included in the testing process.

What do you recommend to companies that want to start with accessibility and perhaps don't have any experts on site?

Annett Farnetani: The easiest thing to do would be to bring in a service provider or consultancy to support you along the way. Especially now, as the matter has to be implemented from June 28, 2025 and the first audits are sure to come, this is a very short time in which to implement everything. Of course, your own team can acquire the knowledge, that's possible, even without external advice. There is enough support on the web and also further training, but it takes a long time and you have to be very tolerant of mistakes. The way I see it, a service company simply gives you a boost to help you acquire knowledge more quickly. This also reduces frustration in the team. If you get stuck somewhere, you can go there and get help. For example, we are often asked about gendering for screen readers, i.e. how screen readers take this on board. That's something you can also research online, but a service provider is much quicker at creating the context because they have more experience and are familiar with it. Of course, it is important to find good service providers. We have a large market, which means that there are a lot of people on the market who offer it and perhaps don't have the necessary experience and knowledge. My recommendation here is to go to conferences and listen to presentations. There is a lot of virtual material to see how people perform. This also allows you to see what suits you and your company in order to find the right partners. There are some companies that would rather get an overview of how certain processes can be boosted, for example a gap analysis to see what the current status of digital accessibility is in the company and in various areas. At other companies, the development teams come and sit down with us to revise individual snippets of code. This ranges from large to small. An important point where support is usually needed again is in the legal department. It is often combined to see which solution fits and which does not.

Are there typical mistakes that are made in project teams?

Annett Farnetani: We often get requests for us to carry out a complete, comprehensive accessibility test. In the worst case, there are hundreds of tickets that come up, i.e. hundreds of errors that are all handed over to the team in one package and overwhelm the team. In the best-case scenario, the tickets are such that the team understands what is at stake. But a product is not only made accessible, features are also being worked on and developed at the same time. This means that something may be done again at one point that is then outdated in the test. There is often a desire for such complete tests because people think that they then have a kind of checklist that they can tick off or perhaps that it's not as bad as they think. Accessibility doesn't happen by chance. You need certain skills and it's a big issue where even experts have different opinions. Some say it's better with such a big test. Perhaps the biggest problem is that there is not enough exchange and not enough consultation. Companies can also specify what they need themselves. A test is not a test per se, it's not a fixed thing. You have to talk to each other and find out what is needed for this step. Sometimes it's seen as a package, along the lines of "I'm buying the digital accessibility package now", and that doesn't work because every company is different and has different people. That's why, as I said, I would recommend talking to specialists and attending the relevant conferences to see how this fits in with your own company. Because it will become a long-term relationship. I'm talking about very large projects here. My second recommendation is that when it comes to smaller projects, for example a website that you want to make accessible, you shouldn't try to make it accessible afterwards. If it is possible, you should relaunch it and incorporate accessibility from the outset. Our experience shows that making a project accessible retrospectively is just as expensive or almost impossible because there is simply too much missing and too little is done properly. It's better to start the concept from the beginning and think about how much it would cost to do this retrospectively and how much it would cost to do it from scratch in the relaunch.

You have already mentioned some technical methods and tools, what role does empathy play in accessibility?

Annett Farnetani: That's because we first try to get a product to the point where it can be used by people with disabilities. Empathy plays a role, of course, but at the point we are currently at with digital accessibility, so much is not yet working or is not yet correct. We are also testing self-service terminals for banks, for example, and we wanted to involve people with disabilities in the testing as early as possible, but that hasn't worked yet because nothing has worked. In other words, a blind person, for example, would have been standing in front of it and wouldn't have been able to do anything because the keyboard control wouldn't have worked at all. We first have to go a whole step further to make a product "testable" so that it can be tested by people with disabilities. What works very well is to get someone involved, especially when you are starting out. For example, having someone show you how to use a screen reader. Some people call this sensitization, but you could also call it empathy. It's about getting someone who is affected to talk about his or her experience. Some people don't even believe that someone who is blind can actually use a digital product. And so they see how it works and that it works and what things can get in the way, and of course that makes a big difference.

What can accessibility expertise do beyond the law, for example for user loyalty, brand image or the ability to innovate?

Annett Farnetani: For all areas. One example would be Apple's iPhone. This is an accessible product, the company was obliged to do so. This product is desirable, innovative and accessible, it is used by many people. This is a good example of how interaction can work. There is a prejudice that accessibility is not aesthetic, but ugly, but that is not true. Even with the specifications, it is possible to make a good, attractive and desirable product. Of course, we see an image gain here. Companies like Apple and Microsoft are paving the way here, for example through inclusion days, not just for the outside world, but also for their own employees. We often see that it is precisely this kind of positioning that keeps interest high. Also for potential employees. If you assume that the companies are serious about it. Another important point for us, precisely because we have also done a lot of work for the public, is that digitalization can be combined extremely well with accessibility. We see great potential in seeing the two as partners that work together to create something better. I don't think it's innovative if it's not accessible for everyone. That may sound harsh, but everyone has to be able to use it, and that's why accessibility is a basis for innovation.

What would be your appeal to the economy and society?

Annett Farnetani: You have to see accessibility as a driver for innovation and use this access as an opportunity rather than a problem.

The interview was conducted by Barbara Groll, Media Relations, Bayern Innovativ GmbH, Nuremberg.