This is a guest post from Mike Adams OBE , founder of EnableAll.

In just under a year, the European Accessibility Act will become law as of 28th June 2025. This is huge change in the regulatory landscape for businesses, as it will make digital inaccessibility unlawful.Various products and services will be affected, including e-commerce, banking, e-books, and ticketing and check-in machines.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are estimated to be 1.3 billion people in the world experiencing a significant disability, which is around 16% of the world’s population. This indicates how necessary accessibility for all is on a global scale, not just in Europe.

Mike Adams OBE, a celebrated disability leader, CEO of the influential disability group Purple and the founder of EnableAll, a boundary-pushing online marketplace that puts accessibility at the heart of its mission, has provided an in-depth look at the key components and commercial benefits of being proactive with the EAA.

The key provisions and basics

The main aim of the EAA is to make it a legal requirement for essential products and services deemed most important for disabled people to meet accessibility requirements set out by the act. This focuses on different requirements between countries, including obligations that are part of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The EAA will revolutionise life for disabled people. By mandating accessibility standards for products and services, it ensures that everything from smartphones to banking services is usable by everyone. With the EAA, disabled people will gain equal access to digital and physical environments, fostering inclusivity and enhancing quality of life. This landmark legislation guarantees that accessibility is not an afterthought but a fundamental right, ensuring digital inclusivity via user-centred design, finally, for all.

For businesses, EEA will be a game changer, pushing them to tap into an underserved market of millions, particularly for digital-first, online shopping brands. In the UK, households that include at least one disabled person have a total spending power of around £274 billion each year. And that’s where EnableAll has been leading the way, catering to the largest possible audience that exists today, and being an exceptional example of corporate responsibility and customer satisfaction.

Businesses that fail to implement the EEA will face severe financial and operational consequences depending on the country, such as fines up to €60,000, imprisonment of up to 18 months, and suspension of their right to do business. Moreover, members of the public will have the right to sue them for non-compliance, which will inevitably lead to negative publicity.

In the US, accessibility laws have been in place for many years, and when the pizza chain Domino’s failed to make its website and smartphone app accessible for people who use screen readers, the company was successfully sued by a customer who has a vision disability.

Compliance requirements for businesses and public institutions

If you’re a business that falls under the categories outlined by the act, you now have less than a year to ensure that your products and services comply with the requirements laid out, with the deadline falling on June 28th, 2025. It’s high time that the conveniences so many non-disabled people take for granted are regulated by this act, and we applaud this progress.

However, with the deadline looming, as a tech-led accessible marketplace, we understand the challenges of creating a truly inclusive and simple customer experience. Making the complex simple is a challenging art that few have mastered, but we know this first-hand and encourage businesses to get started right away. Early compliance with the EAA will provide a competitive edge, and waiting too long could mean missed opportunities, increased costs, and facing a legal claim.

The first step to ensure EEA compliance is conducting a thorough audit of the business’s digital assets to identify areas that require improvement. It’s best to first understand the WCAG standards supported by the EEA and let them guide the audit.

Another key step is analysing the visual elements, paying attention to colours, fonts, and contrasts to ensure that content is accessible to all. Closed captions or audio descriptions will also ensure enjoyment regardless of consumer disability.

Businesses should also pay attention to website interactivity and navigation, ensuring that the website is intuitive and accessible to those using screen readers or keyboard navigation.

Improved compatibility of assistive technologies with digital products and services, such as speech recognition and screen reading tech, is now becoming crucial. Electronic communication, including email and instant messaging, must also be made more accessible for disabled people.

Making financial management and banking more accessible is another crucial factor for the EAA 2025’s existence, as disabled people must have the same freedom to manage their bank accounts as non-disabled people.

Having trained staff that manages the accessibility of a business’s digital assets from the outset will ensure compliance and a thorough understanding of the European Accessibility Act’s core principles.

Mike Adams says, “While the deadline to ensure your business meets these requirements seems far away, the changes needed to be compliant could require a lot of time and investment to deliver. You can’t wait for June 2025 to start thinking about your business’s accessibility, as a lack of accessibility could mean you’re missing out on a huge demographic and a considerable amount of revenue. You’re also facing the risk of a legal claim.

“Making the change sooner rather than later allows you to help reach the largest underserved market of online users and gets you ahead of the game so that when the deadline comes around, you’re ready for it.”

How will this impact Disabled people in the UK?

This act covers all businesses that trade and wish to trade within the EU, meaning that many UK businesses will have to adhere to these requirements. Not only will this empower disabled people in the UK to access products and services, but it could also pressure businesses that previously had shirked responsibility for making their products and services more accessible.

Mike Adams has expressed his excitement around the EAA 2025 and how it will change accessibility standards: “This is such a positive step for accessibility. While it might feel daunting for businesses to make adjustments to meet these regulations, it will mean that you’re unlocking an underserved market that highly values brand loyalty, so you’re looking at customers for life!”

This is a guest post from Mike Adams OBE , founder of EnableAll.

About Mike

Mike Adams OBE, founder and visionary of EnableAll, is pushing the boundaries and breaking down the barriers between what disabled people want to do, expect and what they’re able to do because of limiting user experience online. EnableAll is the world’s first truly accessible online marketplace platform that meets AAA standards for digital accessibility, the highest possible conformance level in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Credit: Image by Denny Franzkowiak from Pixabay