Date Published
October 22, 2025
Total Read
10 min
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A recent accessibility conference in Sweden revealed concerning trends in digital inclusion, with experts highlighting that progress has plateaued since 2021 despite existing legal frameworks and growing awareness.
Erik Zetterström, who has lived with Parkinson's disease for 20 years, provided a compelling personal perspective on digital accessibility challenges. As a civil engineer and experienced technology user, his insights carry particular weight in understanding how motor function disabilities affect digital interaction.
"The most frustrating issue is websites with very small click areas," Zetterström explained. "When entire surfaces are clickable, it becomes impossible to scroll properly." This problem has forced him to abandon platforms like Instagram, where scrolling accidentally triggers likes, and creates anxiety when using professional tools like Microsoft Teams, where unintended interactions could be embarrassing.
His experience highlights a critical design principle often overlooked: the need for non-clickable areas that allow users to navigate without triggering unwanted actions. (2.5.8 - Target Size AA)
Stefan's biennial research on internet usage among people with disabilities, conducted since 2017, reveals troubling patterns. While accessibility improved gradually until 2021, progress has since stalled across key areas, including government services, e-commerce, and digital health platforms.
The research shows that 60% of users with disabilities require assistance with digital services - assistance they should not need with properly designed interfaces. However, the data reveal significant variations between different disability groups, challenging the tendency to treat people with disabilities as a homogeneous population.
Access to fundamental digital services varies dramatically. While most groups show high BankID adoption rates, people with intellectual disabilities face significantly different challenges. Email access remains problematic across multiple groups, with usage declining rather than improving.
Anders Romare from the Sensus Education Association shared insights from working with seniors and foreign-born residents on digital skills. His work revealed an unexpected physical barrier: dry fingers make touchscreens difficult for elderly users to operate, a factor rarely considered in interface design.
The educational programmes, using prepared iPads alongside participants' own devices, addressed various themes, including email management, security awareness, image handling, and practical tasks such as CV writing. For foreign-born participants, language barriers added complexity, while seniors often struggled with confidence and shame about their digital skills.
Lisa Larsson Falk from the Consumer Agency outlined Sweden's accessibility legislation (LPTT), which covers e-commerce, banking services, transport booking, e-books, and various digital products. The law requires not only accessible design but also accessibility statements and support services.
However, enforcement reveals significant gaps. The agency has received approximately 250 reports, with most issues relating to websites rather than mobile applications. Penalties range from 10,000 to 10 million SEK, but the majority of cases are resolved through voluntary compliance rather than sanctions.
Technical experts Illias Bennani and Natasza highlighted a critical limitation in current accessibility practices: automated testing tools only cover 20-40% of actual accessibility requirements. Manual testing remains essential, as it requires human judgment to assess user experience beyond code compliance.
Labelling and content - Generic button labels lacking context (e.g., "Check out" without specifying what users are checking out) violate guidelines 9.2.4.6 and 9.4.1.2. Alternative text descriptions are frequently incorrect or missing (9.1.1.1).
Structure and semantics - Improper HTML semantic structure undermines screen reader navigation (9.1.3.1, 9.4.1.2). ARIA implementation is often incorrect, with experts noting that "no ARIA is better than bad ARIA"—poor implementation creates more barriers than basic HTML.
Forms and errors - Form error messaging is unclear or inadequate, failing to help users understand and correct mistakes (9.3.3.1, 9.3.3.3).
Dynamic content - Content updates are not announced to assistive technologies, leaving users unaware of important changes (9.4.1.3).
These issues significantly impact users who rely on assistive technologies for navigation and interaction.
David Jakobsson's work on mobile app accessibility testing revealed particular challenges in the mobile space. Using screen readers and contrast analysis tools, his team identified recurring problems, including unclear button purposes, illogical keyboard navigation, missing landscape mode support, and a lack of dark mode options.
The testing process itself presents challenges, requiring careful setup of accessibility features across iOS and Android platforms, and the need for representative test data and environments.
Lars Söderberg from DIGG (Agency for Digital Government) identified several systemic issues preventing progress:
Many organisations lack awareness that accessibility legislation applies to them
Insufficient involvement of users with disabilities in design processes
Lack of systematic approaches to accessibility
Heavy reliance on external suppliers without adequate accessibility requirements
Difficulty implementing changes in legacy systems
Shared Components Create Quality Representatives from Arbetsförmedlingen emphasised the importance of design systems for creating accessible digital services. Magnus Broden explained that design systems enable shared components that maintain quality while accelerating development. "We gather already solved problems in one place so that more people can create without losing direction," he stated.
Design Tokens Bridge Disciplines Elliot Dobetzy highlighted "design tokens" as an important technique for creating consistency between design and development. By establishing the same rules for designers and developers, changes can be implemented quickly and safely. As a UX engineer, he emphasised his role as a bridge between development and design to ensure accessibility did not fall through the cracks.
Cognition - The Forgotten Dimension: Anna Sonder from Arbetsförmedlingen illuminated an often-overlooked aspect: cognitive disabilities. Despite following technical accessibility requirements, services can still be difficult to use for people with cognitive challenges. She provided concrete examples from e-commerce where users are not informed about login requirements until checkout, and complex navigation structures that make orientation difficult.
Critical Review of External Solutions The panel discussed challenges with third-party libraries and external tools. Emma pointed out that documentation that claims to be accessible does not always reflect reality, which can lead to costly rework. "Even if the documentation states it should be accessible, reality can look different," she warned.
Simplicity Over Complexity Johan argued for sticking to web standards and building simply. "Is React or Vue really needed? Often, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are sufficient," he suggested. The panel agreed that complex technical choices are often made too early without first defining what should be achieved.
Risk Assessment for Platform Changes Joakim warned against underestimating the complexity of technology changes. Project plans often underestimate the time required to recreate existing functionality in new systems. Ida added that one should not change technology for its own sake but be strategic and ensure sufficient time to fix problems properly.
Continuous development and user involvement emerged as key factors for succeeding with accessible web development in practice.
Legal Compliance as a Starting Point Carl from Kivra emphasised that legal requirements provide necessary motivation. "The legal requirement gives us a kick in the pants," he noted. Beyond compliance, Kivra has built a culture that prioritises user care and actively recruits people with an interest in accessibility. Their payment service, subject to regulatory scrutiny, requires continuous updates and collaboration between product owners to enhance accessibility.
Systematic Testing and Quality Assurance Kivra's approach combines internal expertise with external audits. They conduct regular user testing, maintain accessibility checklists, and engage external auditors, such as UseIT. Testing includes dark mode compatibility, 200% zoom functionality, screen readers, and keyboard navigation. However, Carl acknowledged that testing is the most time-consuming aspect, and it may catch only 30% of issues.
Integration with Development Workflow: The company integrates accessibility considerations into its development pipeline using Jira to track accessibility issues. They have reported three accessibility defects to PTS and maintain a practice of addressing issues within 14 days. The biggest challenge remains PDF accessibility, which proves more difficult to resolve than other issues.
AI as an Accessibility Tool Tobias Jensen from the Nordic Accessibility Community Group explored AI's potential for web accessibility. AI can generate alt-text descriptions, provide speech-to-text functionality for deaf users, assist with navigation, and scan websites for accessibility issues. These tools can help editors focus on what matters most by understanding the surrounding context.
Hidden Biases and Risks: Jensen warned that AI systems often lack training data that represent disability experiences, leading to biased patterns. Systems used in hiring and customer service may not accommodate diverse interaction patterns. More concerning, language models can associate disability with negative sentiments, potentially learning and perpetuating ableism.
Human-Centred Approach The key insight was that accessibility and AI should support human knowledge rather than replace it. "Inclusion is still human work," Jensen emphasised. AI tools can enhance accessibility efforts when combined with human experience, but they cannot substitute for genuine inclusive design practices.
These insights demonstrate that successful accessibility implementation requires technical excellence, organisational commitment, and careful consideration of the implications of emerging technologies for inclusive design.
Critical Approach to AI Implementation The expert panel emphasised the importance of using AI critically rather than accepting it as definitive. As one participant noted, AI should be used as a support tool for guidelines rather than as a final answer. The technology's reliance on historical data can perpetuate existing biases, underscoring the need for human oversight.
Current AI Applications in Accessibility Practitioners shared varied experiences with AI tools. Andreas from UseIT described using ChatGPT for research compilation, helping to speed up the process of identifying specific accessibility issues. Emma highlighted using Copilot to generate automated test patterns for components, particularly for unit tests and end-to-end testing.
The Alt-Text Challenge: A significant concern emerged around AI-generated alt-text. While AI can produce alternative text descriptions, experts worry about verbose, overly descriptive results that could overwhelm users. One participant noted the risk of 200 lengthy alt-texts on a tourism website completely drowning out the actual content. The key insight: AI alt-text generation requires careful human curation.
Scepticism About Bold Claims Tobias Jensen's mention of AI tools detecting 70-80% of accessibility issues sparked debate. Experts expressed scepticism about such high success rates, particularly given that automated tools traditionally catch only 20-40% of issues. The concern centres on false positives and the risk that organisations might blindly trust AI assessments without proper validation.
Future Applications Beyond Testing: The most promising AI applications may lie outside traditional testing. Participants discussed AI-powered screen reader enhancements that could provide page summaries tailored to individual user preferences, and assistive technologies for real-world navigation using computer vision in VR glasses.
Human-in-the-Loop Necessity The consensus was clear: successful AI implementation requires human oversight. As Susanne noted, "a fool with a tool will fool a fool" - emphasising that AI adoption requires organisational maturity and proper understanding of the technology's limitations.
The conference highlighted that while legal frameworks exist, implementation remains inconsistent. The most effective approaches combine systematic testing methodologies with genuine user involvement, moving beyond compliance checklists to focus on actual user experience.
The stagnation in progress since 2021 suggests that current approaches may have reached their limits. Breaking through this plateau will likely require more fundamental changes in how digital services are conceived, designed, and tested, with people with disabilities as central participants rather than afterthoughts in the development process.
As Sweden continues to digitise essential services, the stakes for getting accessibility right keep rising. The conference made clear that technical solutions alone are insufficient; cultural and systemic changes in how organisations approach digital inclusion are essential for meaningful progress.
