Accessibility is usually argued as a compliance obligation, which is the least persuasive version of the case. The stronger argument is that the same work improves usability for everyone and is increasingly checked before contracts are awarded.
Why it is becoming a procurement question
Government and large enterprise tenders in the region increasingly reference accessibility standards. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both have digital accessibility guidance for public-sector services, and that expectation flows down to suppliers. A site that fails basic checks can be disqualified before anyone reads the proposal.
The fixes that deliver most of the value
- Colour contrast. The most common failure and the easiest to fix. Light grey text on white fails for a large share of readers, not only those with impairments; it also fails in sunlight, which matters here.
- Keyboard operability. Every interactive element reachable and usable without a mouse, with a visible focus indicator. Custom dropdowns are the usual offender: styled to look right, impossible to operate without a pointer.
- Real labels on form fields. Placeholder text is not a label; it disappears the moment someone types and is invisible to screen readers.
- Meaningful alt text. Describe what the image communicates. Decorative images should carry an empty alt attribute so they are skipped, which is correct markup rather than an omission.
- Heading structure that reflects the page. One H1, then a logical hierarchy. Screen reader users navigate by headings the way sighted users skim.
Where it overlaps with things you already care about
Semantic headings, descriptive link text and image alternatives are also how search engines and language models read a page. Accessible markup is machine-readable markup. The work is not a parallel expense; it is the same work counted twice.
Touch target size, contrast and clear focus states are ordinary mobile usability improvements. They raise conversion for people with no impairment at all.
Bilingual accessibility
Declare the language of the content. An Arabic page served inside lang="en" makes screen readers pronounce Arabic with English phonetics, which renders it unintelligible. If a page mixes languages, mark the passages that differ.
How to check without a specialist
Run an automated checker to catch contrast and missing labels; it will find perhaps a third of real issues. Then do the two manual tests that matter: navigate a key journey using only the keyboard, and zoom the page to 200% to see whether the layout survives.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a full audit?
Not to start. Fixing contrast, labels and keyboard access removes the majority of practical barriers.
Does it slow delivery?
Built in from the start, barely. Retrofitted after launch, significantly. That difference is the entire argument for doing it early.
