Accessibility Is Not a Phase

It cannot be a ticket at the end of a sprint. By the time that ticket is picked up, the decisions that made the product inaccessible have already shipped, and fixing them is a rebuild wearing the word “remediation”.

The Decisions That Cost The Most Later

• Colour as the only signal. Chosen in week one, found in an audit in month nine.
• Custom controls. Every bespoke dropdown is a keyboard-interaction spec somebody has to write and nobody budgeted for.
• Layout that assumes a mouse. Hover-only affordances are the classic, and they survive because designers test with a trackpad under their palm.
• Copy written for a glance. Screen-reader users hear labels out of context. “Learn more” seven times is seven identical promises.

The cheapest accessibility work happens in the wireframe, where nothing is beautiful enough to be precious yet.

What Fits In A Normal Week

Tab through the screen you just designed. Check contrast on the state, not just the resting style. Write the label as if it will be read alone, because it will be.

That is not a phase. That is twenty minutes, and it removes most of what an audit would have found.

If accessibility is a line item, it is already late.