As we step into a new year, businesses and professionals across industries are setting ambitious goals: increase revenue, expand market reach, boost engagement, and strengthen brand reputation. But there’s one resolution that can unlock all these objectives simultaneously: making accessibility a core priority.
Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox or a nice-to-have feature. It’s a strategic business decision that opens doors to new markets, drives innovation, and positions your organization as a leader in an increasingly conscious marketplace. If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution that delivers measurable ROI while making a genuine difference, accessibility deserves the top spot on your list.
The Business Case: Why Accessibility Means More of Everything
More Engagement, More Community
Accessible content is simply better content, a cut above the rest. When you design with accessibility in mind, you create experiences that work for everyone.
Captions on videos help people who are watching in sound-sensitive environments like offices or public transportation. Clear, simple language benefits non-native speakers and people with cognitive differences. High-contrast designs are easier on everyone’s eyes, especially in bright sunlight or dim lighting. Keyboard navigation helps power users who prefer shortcuts over mouse clicks.
This universal improvement in user experience translates to higher engagement metrics: longer time on site, lower bounce rates, more completed forms, and more social shares. When people can actually use your content easily, they’re more likely to engage with it, return to it, and recommend it to others.
Accessibility also builds community. When you demonstrate that you’ve thoughtfully considered the needs of all users, you create goodwill and loyalty. You signal that your organization sees and values everyone, which resonates powerfully in today’s market, where consumers increasingly align themselves with brands that reflect their values.
More Clients, More Market Share
The numbers tell a compelling story. According to the World Health Organization, over 1.3 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. That’s approximately 16% of the global population. In the United States alone, people with disabilities represent a market segment with over $490 billion in disposable income.
When your website, products, or services aren’t accessible, you’re literally turning away paying customers. Every inaccessible form is a lost lead. Every video without captions is a potential client who can’t engage with your content. Every poorly contrasted button is a conversion opportunity left on the table.
Making accessibility a priority in the new year means welcoming these customers through your doors, whether in person or online. It means expanding your potential customer base by millions and tapping into a market segment that values loyalty to brands that respect their needs.
More SEO, More Visibility
Here’s something that surprises many business owners: accessibility and search engine optimization are deeply intertwined. The same practices that make your website accessible to people using screen readers also make it more readable to search engine crawlers.
Proper heading hierarchies, descriptive alt text for images, clear link text, semantic HTML, transcripts for audio content, and well-structured content all serve double duty. They help people with disabilities navigate your site effectively while simultaneously helping search engines understand and rank your content.
Google has repeatedly emphasized user experience as a ranking factor, and accessibility is fundamental to user experience. Businesses that prioritize accessibility often see improvements in their search rankings, organic traffic, and overall online visibility. Starting the new year with an accessibility audit could be the SEO boost you’ve been searching for.
More Leadership, More Integrity
Perhaps the most valuable return on accessibility investment isn’t measured in dollars, but in leadership and legacy.
Organizations that champion accessibility position themselves as industry leaders. They set standards rather than follow them. They attract top talent who want to work for companies with strong values. They earn speaking opportunities, media coverage, and industry recognition.
There’s also the simple matter of integrity. Accessibility is fundamentally about respect, inclusion, and recognizing the inherent dignity of all people. It’s about ensuring that the digital world we’re building (which increasingly mediates everything from education to healthcare to civic participation) is truly accessible to everyone, not just the able-bodied and neurotypical.
Making accessibility a core value demonstrates that your business stands for something beyond profit. In an era where consumers, especially younger generations, scrutinize corporate values closely, this authenticity becomes a powerful differentiator.
Why the New Year Is the Perfect Time to Start
Form Fresh Perspectives
The new year brings a unique opportunity to reassess priorities and implement meaningful change. It’s when budgets reset, new strategies are developed, and teams are energized with renewed focus.
This cultural moment of collective goal-setting makes it easier to rally your organization around accessibility initiatives. Employees are already in a mindset of improvement and growth. Stakeholders are thinking about the year ahead. It’s the ideal time to introduce accessibility as a strategic priority that will shape your business’s trajectory for the next twelve months and beyond.
Set Measurable Goals
New Year’s resolutions work best when they’re specific and measurable, and accessibility provides clear benchmarks for success.
You might resolve to achieve WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance by Q2, implement automated accessibility testing in your development pipeline by March, train all customer-facing staff on disability awareness by June, or audit and remediate your top 100 web pages by year-end.
These concrete goals transform accessibility from an abstract ideal into an actionable roadmap with milestones you can track and celebrate throughout the year.
Join a Growing Movement
Accessibility is experiencing a cultural moment. More businesses are recognizing its value, more tools are making implementation easier, and more resources are available to guide the journey.
By making accessibility a priority in the new year, you’re joining this momentum rather than playing catch-up later. You’re positioning your business at the forefront of this shift rather than being dragged along reluctantly by regulatory pressure or competitive disadvantage.
The Resolution That Keeps Giving
Unlike fitness resolutions that fade by February, accessibility improvements compound over time. Each accessible feature you implement today continues delivering value indefinitely. Each barrier you remove stays removed. Each person you train spreads knowledge to others, and the value cascades.
By making it your New Year’s resolution, you’re setting in motion changes that will strengthen your business, expand your reach, and affirm your values for years to come.
This new year brings a new opportunity to build a more inclusive, profitable, and principled business. The question isn’t whether accessibility matters: the evidence is overwhelming that it does. The question now is whether you’ll lead this change or follow it.
Make 2026 the year you choose to lead. Make accessibility your resolution, and watch as it transforms into something much more valuable: a lasting commitment that drives success, builds community, and affirms the simple truth that everyone deserves equal access to the opportunities your business creates.
Ready to make accessibility your business’s New Year’s resolution? Start with a free accessibility audit, schedule training for your team, or connect with accessibility consultants who can guide your journey. The best time to start was yesterday. The second-best time is today.
