A customer with weak eyesight opens your website on her phone. The grey text on the white background is too faint to read, the "Order" button is just an icon, and the enquiry form does not say which box is wrong. She closes the tab and calls your competitor.
That is what poor website accessibility looks like in real life. It is about more than blind users with special software. It is whether people of all ages can read your prices, fill your form and pay you.
Quick answer
What is website accessibility?
Website accessibility means building a site so that people with disabilities can use it. W3C, the body that writes web standards, says people should be able to perceive, understand and interact with the web. That covers people with visual, hearing, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities.
The same work helps many people who would never call themselves disabled. W3C names older people whose abilities change with age, people on small phone screens, someone with a broken arm, someone reading in bright sunlight, and anyone on a slow connection.
Why web accessibility matters for a business
The numbers are large. India's disability department (DEPwD) puts the count at 2.68 crore people as per Census 2011, or 2.21 percent of the population. The World Health Organization estimates 1.3 billion people worldwide live with significant disability, about 1 in 6.
There is a search benefit too. Google says it uses alt text (a short written description of an image) to understand what a picture shows. The same text is what a screen reader speaks aloud to a blind user.
What does WCAG ask for, and which level do you need?
WCAG is the rulebook most of the world uses for web accessibility. It has three levels: A is the minimum, AA adds more checks, and AAA is the strictest. For a normal business site, ask for WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and treat AAA as a bonus on a few pages.
WCAG versions and levels in plain words
W3C published WCAG 2.0 in December 2008, WCAG 2.1 on 5 June 2018 and WCAG 2.2 on 5 October 2023. W3C encourages using the latest version. Each version builds on the one before, so a site that meets 2.2 AA also meets most of what older contracts ask for.
| Level | What it means | Should you ask for it? |
| A | The minimum. Fixes the worst blockers. | Not enough on its own |
| AA | All of A plus more checks, such as text contrast of 4.5:1 | Yes, this is the usual target |
| AAA | All of AA plus stricter checks, such as contrast of 7:1 | Only for some pages. W3C does not recommend it as a rule for whole sites |
The four principles
WCAG groups every rule under four ideas. People must be able to see or hear the content, and use it, for example with only a keyboard. They must understand it, and the code must work with assistive tools like screen readers.
What are the website accessibility rules in India?
India's main law is the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Section 40 says the central government shall make accessibility standards, including for information and communication. Section 46 says government and private service providers must follow those rules within two years of their notification.
What the RPwD Rules and GIGW say
The RPwD Rules came into force on 15 June 2017. Rule 15 pointed websites to the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites. It also asked for website documents in ePUB or OCR-based PDF (a scanned PDF whose text software can read).
Amendments in 2023 added two Indian standards for ICT (information and communication technology) products and services: IS 17802 Part 1 (2021) and Part 2 (2022).
GIGW 3.0 is the current version of those government website guidelines, published by the National Informatics Centre under MeitY. It applies to government websites and apps, and it says it conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. A private business is not a government site, but GIGW is a useful checklist when you sell to government departments.
What the Supreme Court said in November 2024
In Rajive Raturi v Union of India (8 November 2024), the Supreme Court held that Rule 15(1) went beyond the Act. The reason: it set out recommendations, not compulsory standards. The court directed the central government to frame mandatory rules within three months.
In June 2025, DEPwD put out draft "non-negotiable" accessibility standards for the ICT sector for public comment. The Act allows a fine of up to Rs 10,000 for a first breach and Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh for later breaches. This is a fast-moving area, so ask a lawyer whether the final rules cover your business before you sign any compliance claim.
Which accessibility problems are most common?
Most sites fail on the same few basics. WebAIM's 2026 study of the top one million home pages found detected WCAG failures on 95.9 percent of them, with 56.1 errors per page on average. The same six problems have topped its list for seven years.
| Problem found | Share of home pages (WebAIM Million, Feb 2026) | What it means for your customer |
| Low-contrast text | 83.9% | Faint text that older eyes cannot read |
| Images with no alt text | 53.1% | A screen reader says "image" and nothing more |
| Form boxes with no label | 51% | The user does not know what to type where |
| Empty links | 46.3% | A link that a screen reader cannot name |
| Empty buttons | 30.6% | An icon button with no name, like a bare cart icon |
| No page language set | 13.5% | The screen reader may read in the wrong accent |
The good news is that these are not expensive fixes. Most are a few lines per template, which is why a good developer can clear them quickly on a site built with shared page designs.
If you are planning a new site, it is cheaper to ask for this at the start. Put WCAG 2.2 AA in the written scope when you hire The Beyond Horizon's website development service for Indian businesses or anyone else. Then it gets checked before launch, not patched later.
How to check website accessibility yourself
You do not need to be technical to find the biggest problems. W3C publishes "Easy Checks" for exactly this, though it says they "cover just a few accessibility issues". Use these steps as a first look, then ask your developer to test properly.
- Check every page title. The text in the browser tab should say what the page is, like "Contact Us | Your Shop Name".
- Turn images off or use a free screen reader such as NVDA on Windows or VoiceOver on iPhone. Listen to whether product photos are described.
- Put the mouse away and press the Tab key. You should see a clear outline move from link to link, and reach the enquiry form and the pay button.
- Zoom the page to 200 percent on a laptop. Text should grow without overlapping or getting cut off.
- Look at light grey text on white. If you squint to read it, it probably fails the 4.5:1 contrast rule.
- Submit your enquiry form with one box empty. The error message should name the box and say how to fix it.
- Play any video with the sound off. It should have captions.
A buyer tip most people miss
Ask your developer for a short accessibility statement page. It says which standard you aim for, what you know is not yet fixed, and how a customer can reach you if they get stuck. It costs little, and it shows good faith if anyone complains.
A second tip: check the admin side too. In the Kafe Kufe restaurant system we built, the staff billing (POS) screens use a dark, high-contrast theme made for kitchen lighting. Your own staff screens deserve the same care as the public site.
What to put in your web design brief
Write these lines into your quote request so they are part of the deal, not a favour.
- The site will aim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA on all public pages.
- Every image that carries meaning will have alt text, and decorative images will be marked as decorative.
- Every form field will have a visible label and a clear error message.
- The whole site will work with a keyboard, with a visible focus outline.
- The developer will run an automated scan and a manual keyboard test before launch, and share the results.
No tool can prove a site is fully accessible on its own. Automated scanners find many errors, but a person still needs to test with a keyboard and a screen reader.
Your next step
Run the seven checks above on your current site this week and note what fails. Want a second pair of eyes on the list, or a new site with accessibility in the scope from day one? Call or WhatsApp The Beyond Horizon on +91 75973 92744.