Access Denied: Ignorance of Web Accessibility Standards by Dutch Business

Abstract

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) facilitate equal accessibility to websites for people with impairments. However, the adoption of this standard remains low, leaving much of the web inaccessible to millions of users with an impairment. This paper seeks to understand why this standard has had limited impact. As the European Accessibility Act required businesses to have accessible websites from June 2025 there is growing pressure to make improvements. Moving beyond the technical evaluations that dominated past research, this study looks through a standardisation lens at likely reasons for the private sectors' limited use of the web accessibility standard. We compare accessibility differences per industry quantitatively. We then go back to the literature and look at government practices to identify solutions for web accessibility barriers. This allows us to provide a new perspective on how web accessibility can be improved. Our findings identify two main obstacles: a lack of awareness of the WCAG standard, and difficulties in understanding and implementing it. Implementation is hindered by a shortage of developers with accessibility expertise, and by the absence of sanctions for non-compliance. To conclude, the new law first needs to tackle the barriers to web accessibility and introduce a reasonable risk on sanctions as impetus for change.