Accessibility Is Everyone's Job: Defining Responsibilities Across the SDLC

Accessibility is often treated like a checkbox or, worse, an afterthought. Teams mean well, but the problem isn't always motivation. It's clarity. Who's responsible for what? If you think it's just QA or the lone accessibility specialist, you're already behind.

Here's how accessibility breaks down across the SDLC—and where each role needs to step up.

1. Product Management

Responsibility: Define accessibility requirements upfront.
Write accessibility into feature specs and user stories (e.g., "Must meet WCAG 2.1 AA").
Prioritize accessibility work in the roadmap—not just bugs, but features too.
Allocate time for inclusive design and technical debt tied to inaccessible components.
Ensure acceptance criteria includes accessibility expectations.

Why it matters: If accessibility isn't prioritized here, it won't be prioritized anywhere.

2. UX/UI Designers

Responsibility: Design accessible interfaces from the start.
Use sufficient color contrast, logical tab orders, and clear labels.
Annotate designs with accessibility notes (e.g., "aria-label for this icon").
Design for screen reader flow and keyboard navigation—not just mouse users.
Avoid inaccessible patterns (e.g., hover-only content, carousels without controls).

Why it matters: If a component is unusable for keyboard or screen reader users, no amount of code can save it.

3. Content Strategists / Copywriters

Responsibility: Create clear, meaningful, and inclusive content.
Write link text that makes sense out of context ("Learn more" is useless).
Avoid jargon, ableist language, or unnecessary complexity.
Provide alt text for images that adds context or function.

Why it matters: Screen readers read everything—so make every word count.

4. Software Engineers / Front-End Developers

Responsibility: Build accessible components and flows.
Use semantic HTML, no div-spamming.
Apply ARIA roles only when needed, and correctly.
Ensure keyboard access, focus management, and skip links.
Reuse tested, accessible components from the design system.
Test your own components before committing

Why it matters: Most accessibility issues are introduced in code and can be fixed there, too.

5. QA / Test Engineers

Responsibility: Test for accessibility bugs before release.
Include a11y checks in test plans (keyboard nav, screen reader, color contrast).
Use tools like Axe, Lighthouse, and manual testing to validate flows.
Flag issues early and clearly—don't just log "missing alt tag," log impact.

Why it matters: Automated tests only catch 30-40% of issues. Human eyes and empathy matter.

6. Accessibility Specialists (if you have them)

Responsibility: Educate, advise, and help fix complex issues.
Provide guidance on tricky WCAG interpretations.
Run audits, screen reader walkthroughs, and train the team.
Work with teams to design better patterns, not just fix broken ones.

Why it matters: They're not the a11y police. They're your mentors and guides.

7. DevOps / CI/CD Engineers

Responsibility: Integrate accessibility checks into the pipeline.
Add automated a11y tools to pull requests and builds (e.g., Axe-core, pa11y).
Set up gating rules for known failures, don't ship regressions.

Why it matters: Catching issues earlier in the pipeline is cheaper and more scalable.

8. Leadership / Executives

Responsibility: Make accessibility a non-negotiable priority.
UInvest in training, audits, and inclusive hiring.
Hold teams accountable for a11y KPIs.
Bake accessibility into definitions of “done” and performance reviews.

Why it matters: Accessibility without executive support is just hope.

Closing Thought: Accessibility Isn't Extra Work, It's Real Work

If your team doesn't know who's responsible for accessibility at each phase, you're not just risking non-compliance, you're excluding people. And that's bad business, bad ethics, and bad engineering.

Accessibility doesn't belong to one person or one team. It belongs to every role, in every sprint, from first sketch to final deploy.