Accessibility is no longer just a checklist item—it’s becoming a core value that shapes how modern companies build digital products. When accessibility is treated as an afterthought, it leads to rushed fixes, higher costs, and poor user experiences. But when integrated into your company’s culture from the start, it unlocks better design, greater usability for everyone, and long-term sustainability.

In this talk, we’ll explore how to make accessibility-first development part of your organization’s DNA. You’ll learn how assistive technologies interact with the accessibility tree, what accessibility-first development really means, why accessible design benefits all users—not just people with disabilities—and we will break some common biases that still exist around accessibility.

We’ll also discuss practical steps for embedding accessibility into everyday workflows, from design to development to QA, so it becomes a shared responsibility rather than a single team’s burden.

Takeaways:

- Why accessibility should be a core company value, not an afterthought.

- What accessibility-first development really means.

- Breaking common accessibility myths and biases.

- Practical ways to start shifting your team and organization toward an accessibility-first mindset