As the famous holiday song goes, there are “12 Days of Christmas.” With the holiday season in full swing, it’s the perfect time to introduce “The 12 Days of Accessibility.”
In this blog, I’ll share twelve essential digital accessibility concepts that often shape the experiences of blind internet users like myself.
The holidays can present added challenges for assistive technology users navigating inaccessible websites. While accessibility might seem overwhelming for businesses, ignoring it has far greater consequences: alienating an entire segment of customers, missing out on revenue, and risking reputational harm in today’s inclusion-focused marketplace.
Thoughtful, accessible design turns frustrating interactions into seamless experiences. As a full-time screen reader user, I can attest to the impact of these efforts—efforts that show customers with disabilities are valued, fostering trust and long-term loyalty.
Whether you’re a small business just starting your accessibility journey or a national chain already engaged in testing and remediation, the concepts I’ll cover offer valuable insights. These design choices can make or break the online experience for me and millions of others who rely on assistive technology.
By prioritizing accessibility, your business sends a powerful message: customers with disabilities matter.
Let’s dive into “The 12 Days of Accessibility” and discover how to make a meaningful, lasting impact this holiday season.
1. Button Labels
Modern websites rely on buttons, from basic navigation to calls to action. Suppose a button does not have a corresponding text label in the code. In that case, screen readers will either miss it completely or announce it as a vague,, meaningless term like “Button” or “Graphic.” This is especially important when it comes to icon—or graphic-based buttons. Ensuring that all buttons on a website have proper text labels will go a long way toward including screen reader users in your digital efforts.
Watch this clip to understand how to design buttons to be more inclusive on your website.
2. Link Labels
Links are everywhere in the modern digital world, from emails to websites to social media posts.
Like buttons, links must be thoughtfully structured on the back end to ensure full accessibility for screen reader users.
Essential elements include:
- Descriptive link text labels
- Indications of whether the link is internal or external
- Markers for previously visited links
It’s hard to convey just how impactful these elements are through a blog alone. To see how essential accessibility features like these are, I recommend watching the on-demand webinar, How a Blind Person Uses a Website.
3. Alternative Text Image Descriptions
As websites become increasingly image-dominated, particular care must be taken to ensure that images are appropriately described for individuals with visual impairments. Any pictures that convey meaningful data should be described with as few words as possible to provide the most detail.
If an image is decorative, it should either be marked as such or given a proper designation in the code so that a screen reader will completely ignore it. Image descriptions should always be tailored to the image's purpose on the site. When I use websites that contain several or many unlabeled images, I miss out on the valuable visual data in the photos, which significantly waters down the browsing experience.
An image containing text must be listed separately for screen reader users.
If you'd like to read more about my experience, feelings, and personal recommendations for making your alt-text more impactful for screen reader users, check out my blog, Image Alt Text Best Practices for Web Accessibility.
4. Text Fields
Text entry is standard on all websites. Text fields must also be labeled, like buttons and links, for proper screen reader detection and announcement. In the same way, you should include any example text entries, character or word limits, and required text status. Inaccessible text fields make it almost impossible to know what information to enter or where the data belongs.
Watch this video segment on best practices for designing accessible input fields.
5. Printed Material Digitalization
One common way to digitalize printed materials such as restaurant menus is to take photographs or image-based scans of the paper document and upload the raw files to the website. However, screen readers do not recognize these formats, making the resulting content inaccessible.
The best way to digitalize these documents is to enter the data in plain text manually. While this is more time-consuming upfront, it will improve accessibility and usability.
6. Date and Time Entry
Many modern digital experiences, such as scheduling doctor visits online, require date and time entry. The most common interface for date entry is calendar grids. These are often inaccessible because screen readers can't correctly interpret the visual chronological organization. In my experience, drop-down menus work better for date and time entry.
In addition, if users must choose between available and unavailable time slots, there must be a clear verbal distinction so that screen reader dependents can pick a viable day or time.
7. Location Filtering
Many websites offer location-based functionality, such as finding the nearest store for a grocery pickup order. Often, this is displayed on a map, which is inaccessible to screen reader users. A text-based alternative, such as a list ranked by proximity, ensures everyone can access the same information.
Watch this webinar segment on how to make complex UI elements like maps accessible
8. Pop-Ups
Websites use Pop-ups, promotions, email signups, and more. However, pop-ups often lack accessible dismiss buttons, leaving screen reader users unable to navigate away. Ensuring pop-ups have clearly labeled dismiss buttons prevents frustration and improves usability.
Learn how to create accessible pop-ups, Blog: Pop-Up Accessibility and How to Make Pop-Ups More Accessible.
9. Skip Navigation Links
Skip navigation links allow users to bypass repetitive content, such as headers and navigation menus, and go directly to the main page material. This feature is especially important for screen reader users who would otherwise have to navigate through the same elements on every page.
You can read more about how skip navigation links and other inclusive design features enhance e-commerce usability here: How Inclusive Design Elevates E-Commerce Usability for All.
10. Keyboard Traps
Keyboard traps occur when screen reader focus gets stuck in or on a particular web element, preventing the user from moving the cursor to other parts of the page. These occurrences are incredibly frustrating and lead to lousy accessibility experiences. Keyboard traps should be high on the priority list when testing for accessibility defects on a website.
When shopping on Black Friday, I typically encounter more keyboard traps. You can read about my Black Friday shopping experience, including keyboard traps, on this blog, Black Friday Accessibility: Tips for E-Commerce Websites.
11. Product Customization
This one applies to shopping sites. Many products, such as clothing and furniture, come in multiple variants that the shopper can select on the item details screen. The variation picker interface is often not accessible. For example, if a product comes in multiple colors, the website may use small colored circles to represent the choices. If these color markers have no text labels in the code, I cannot make a selection with my screen reader.
As someone who does a lot of online shopping, I know these interfaces are a huge barrier. Other screen reader users and I would greatly appreciate it if companies designed this e-commerce experience to be more usable and inclusive.
If you are looking to learn how to improve this experience for your customers, our on-demand webinar, Accessible Design for E-Commerce, explores key design considerations for making your e-commerce site more accessible and usable.
12. Accessibility Widgets
Accessibility widget companies market their products as a fix-all for accessibility. However, they are not. When enabled, widgets often provide a worse experience than the native site. So-called screen reader modes activate a primitive screen reader that competes with the main reader and leads to a confusing and unusable experience. For a website to be fully accessible and usable, you need comprehensive accessibility testing, including automated scans and manual and user testing. Off-the-shelf widgets will not fix a website's accessibility deficiencies.
I've written about widgets in the past. For more on widgets:
- Read Why Accessibility Widgets Fall Short: A Screen Reader User’s Perspective
- Watch this clip from a webinar discussion about WebAim's survey of screen reader users
Make Accessibility a Priority This Holiday Season
The 12 Days of Accessibility highlights how thoughtful design choices can transform digital experiences. For blind customers like myself, these tiny changes turn frustrating, exclusionary interactions into seamless, inclusive ones.
As we embrace the season of giving, businesses have an opportunity to give something significant: accessible websites and applications that welcome everyone. Whether your company is just beginning its accessibility journey or actively testing and remediating, these twelve points offer a strong foundation for improvement.
Prioritizing accessibility brings more than just a loyal customer base. It sets your business apart, builds a reputation for inclusivity, and creates a competitive edge
This holiday season, let’s commit to accessibility—not as a resolution for the new year but as an ongoing effort that benefits everyone. Together, we can ensure that no one is excluded from the digital experiences that shape our lives.
For insights into making your website more accessible, based on feedback from me and other members of the disability community, download the e-book, "Digital Commerce Without Barriers: Perspectives from the Disability Community- download here.
Editor's Note: Our frequent Marketing Contributor, Michael Taylor, wrote this post. This post reflects his opinions and experiences. Read more about Michael and some other posts on his experience online here.
