The Internet was conceived to be for everyone. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, has repeatedly stressed the importance of its universality. More than three decades on, we are still closing doors that were supposed to be open.
When we talk about digital accessibility, we are talking about the possibility of anyone, with or without a disability, young or old, being able to use, understand and interact with online content. It is a question that involves technology, but also participation and inclusion.
The numbers don’t lie
The WebAIM Million report of February 2026 analysed the home pages of one million websites. It found an average of 56.1 automatically detectable accessibility errors per page, an increase of 10.1% on 2025. Problems linked to failures of WCAG criteria were found on 95.9% of the pages analysed. These results do not cover every barrier, since automated tests have limitations.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates that around 1.3 billion people live with some form of disability. Accessibility can also benefit people with temporary limitations, such as an arm in a sling, or in situations that make a device harder to use, such as trying to read a screen in bright sunlight.
The standard already exists. So does the law.
WCAG 2.2 was first published as a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023 and updated on 12 December 2024. The document is organised around four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
Being perceivable means presenting information in ways users can recognise. Being operable means allowing navigation and interaction. Understandability depends on clear content and predictable pages. Robustness aims to ensure compatibility with different technologies, including assistive technologies.
In Portugal, Decree-Law no. 83/2018 sets accessibility requirements for the websites and mobile apps of public sector bodies. Decree-Law no. 82/2022 also introduced requirements for certain categories of products and services, including e-commerce services covered by the law, broadly in effect since 28 June 2025.
But complying with the law is not the whole point of accessibility. The aim is to let more people use digital services and take part in social life on more equal terms.
Inclusion is designed too.
In practice, digital inclusion means designing websites that can be used by people with different abilities and needs.
A blind person should be able to navigate with a screen reader such as NVDA or VoiceOver. Someone with low vision should be able to enlarge text or adjust the display without losing information. A person with motor impairments may need to fill in a form using only the keyboard. Someone who cannot hear a video’s audio should be able to get the information through captions.
It means thinking about the contrast between text and background, text alternatives for meaningful images, a correct heading structure, visible focus on interactive elements and predictable navigation. In WCAG, a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 is the general requirement for normal-size text at level AA, with different criteria for other text sizes and interface elements.
There are also potential benefits for businesses. An accessible website can reach more people, make services easier to use and remove obstacles to getting in touch or buying. However, accessibility alone cannot be guaranteed to increase sales or improve search engine rankings. Those results depend on many factors.
The road ahead
The effort to make digital services accessible should involve public bodies, businesses and associations, but also the professionals responsible for the design, development, content and management of websites.
Digital accessibility should be considered from the start of a project and monitored over time. Every barrier on a page can stop someone from finding information, filling in a form or completing a task.
Making the web accessible brings it closer to the promise of universality that came with its creation. As Berners-Lee put it, “This is for everyone”. We still have work to do for that promise to be kept.