Digital accessibility

Equal opportunities through accessibility in IT

Most of us think of accessibility in terms of free, unhindered access to buildings or public transportation. However, accessibility also means that information on the Internet is accessible without barriers. This is very important for people with disabilities or limitations, but also for older people, as participation in social and professional life is hardly conceivable today without the digital world. The legislator has reacted to this. With the Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSG ), it obliges many companies to make their IT services, such as apps and publicly accessible websites, accessible from June 28, 2025. Only micro-enterprises are excluded from the legislative initiative. Through uniform EU requirements, the Accessibility Act is also intended to support small and medium-sized companies in making full use of the opportunities offered by the European single market.

Accessible websites, apps and programs with the right tools

As a result of the legal regulation from June 2025, there is therefore a regulated need to offer accessible applications. However, publicly accessible websites, applications and other electronic services are often not yet barrier-free and must be revised or even newly created to meet the legal requirements by the deadline. The quality features that make a program, website or application accessible are defined in more detail in DIN EN ISO 9241-171. It defines criteria with regard to the ergonomics of human-system interaction and shows how software should be programmed and designed to be barrier-free. This can cause high costs and, for all those companies that do not act, entails the risk of specialist law firms issuing warnings.

Companies are therefore well advised to create a special “toolbox” so that they can use the tools it contains to create standardized requirements for accessible IT applications. These tools can be used again and again for accessible programming and also depend on the technology used, i.e. the programming language in which a website, app or program was developed. This saves time, streamlines processes and prevents costs caused by warnings from resourceful lawyers.

Our IT experts will accompany you on the path to barrier-free IT

PTA IT-Beratung has been operating successfully on the market for more than 50 years and has gone through and helped shape all stages of evolution in information technology. Our IT experts have many years of IT knowledge, profound programming skills in .Net/NET or Java and wide-ranging process know-how. Our software developers and UI designers provide you with professional support from conception and programming to the development of frameworks and the barrier-free design of user interfaces (UI). We work with you to identify existing weak points in your IT infrastructure in the area of accessibility using a tool-based analysis. We provide you with expert support in the optimization of existing IT solutions and the efficient development of new, accessible software components – regardless of whether these are websites, desktop applications or mobile apps. For example, if software can be used entirely via the keyboard, it is not only operable by blind or visually impaired users. IT professionals and power users such as programmers also benefit from consistent and stringent keyboard control.

This is because they are able to perform their tasks faster and more efficiently when using the keyboard alone. Temporarily restricted users who are unable to use a mouse due to tendonitis, for example, also benefit from using a keyboard only.

However, keyboard-only control is just one of many features that characterize accessible IT. The process model of our analysis is tried and tested, multidimensional and comprises the following features:

Accessibility opens up opportunities

Companies involved in the development and provision of accessible software secure numerous opportunities: in addition to fulfilling legal requirements, the implementation of guidelines generally improves the usability of a software solution for all users. And user-friendliness and simple, barrier-free access to websites, service portals or apps is a prerequisite for all users today. The topic of accessibility therefore not only creates real added value for people with disabilities or impairments. For example, an accessible website enables you to reach more people and therefore also appeal to a broader target group. This is more important than ever in today’s society, which is becoming increasingly diverse and includes more and more older people.

So adapt your software components in good time and make them accessible. Avoid the threat of waves of warnings once the transitional periods have expired. This gives your company the necessary planning security. Avoid bottlenecks if you have to change over at short notice and also document that you take your social commitment seriously. You can rely on our experienced team of experts and developers, who will be your competent partner for analysis and advice as well as for possible optimization measures in terms of barrier-free IT.

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Marc Armbruster

IT Consultant

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