Accessibility Is Not a Feature — It Is a Foundation

Accessibility is often treated as a checklist item addressed late in the development cycle. This is backwards. Accessibility built into a product from the beginning is cheaper, more robust, and produces better experiences for everyone — not just users with disabilities. Keyboard navigation, sufficient color contrast, meaningful alt text, and logical heading structure are not accommodations. They are the baseline of a well-built product. Teams that internalize this ship accessible products without heroic last-minute efforts.