From advocate to lead: scaling Accessibility across a finance platform

• Accessibility became an official requirement in the product creation process across all teams
• 36 UX/UI designers trained through workshops and structured learning paths
• 3 active products + the design system covered by accessibility audits
• Tailored checklists adopted by UX, UI, Dev, and QA teams as part of their standard workflow
• Reusable Figma component guidelines created - portable across projects and design systems
• Vendor platform evaluated and proposed for budget allocation to speed up future audits
• Measurable reduction in design-level accessibility errors, especially after design system review
• Knowledge transfer completed to UX Lead to ensure continuity after my departure

From my first day at the company, I noticed accessibility gaps in the design system and started raising the issue. I flagged WCAG violations, brought up the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and ADA requirements, and consistently advocated for inclusive design. Over time, the UX/UI team started calling me the 'Accessibility Guardian.'

I didn't wait for a mandate. I initiated conversations with the Head of UX and key engineering leads, arguing that accessibility isn't a nice-to-have - it's a core part of user experience. I prepared data-backed reports showing how many existing customers were potentially affected and what revenue was at risk without proper WCAG compliance.

Convincing leadership required persistence and evidence. I compiled reports covering legal risks (EAA enforcement starting June 2025, existing ADA obligations), potential customer reach, and the cost of retrofitting vs. building accessibly from the start. The Head of UX provided internal customer data that strengthened the business case.

For the engineering leads, I framed accessibility as a growth opportunity - a chance to deepen their understanding of how products actually work for diverse users. I emphasized that developers play an equally critical role: coding correctly from the start would cut rework time significantly.

It worked. I was appointed Accessibility Lead with a dedicated team of two. The initiative was officially greenlit.

I set the target at WCAG 2.2 Level AA, with Level A as the immediate priority. The rationale was pragmatic: all projects were ongoing with tight deadlines. I needed to secure the fundamentals first, then expand coverage in subsequent audit rounds.

The scope covered 3 active products within the company's flagship platform (each with dedicated Research/UX/UI/Dev/QA teams), plus the shared UX design system. I built a Weighted Prioritization Model scoring each project on impact, feasibility, dependency, compliance, reach, and legal risk. This produced a roadmap with short-term, medium-term, and long-term phases - each with expected impact, owners, dependencies, and success metrics.

My goal wasn't just to fix existing issues - it was to make accessibility a permanent part of how the company builds products. I designed a multi-layered approach:

I partnered closely with the design system team. We held regular sessions to review components, flag issues, and request changes. I created reusable Figma guidelines for individual components covering: general recommendations, variant-specific guidelines, keyboard interactions, and screen reader support - each mapped to specific WCAG criteria.

The guidelines were designed to be portable - applicable to other projects with different design systems and easily extendable with new component variants. Each guideline included a trackable checklist so teams could monitor progress across component groups.

I introduced accessibility as a dedicated step in the product creation process - not just for UX, but across all disciplines. After presenting the case to team leads, accessibility testing became required at every stage: research, design, development, and QA.

UX designers had to include accessibility annotations in their specs, highlighting areas that needed special attention from UI and dev teams downstream. This created a chain of accountability - if UX prepared designs correctly, UI could execute them well, developers could focus on non-visual WCAG criteria, and testers could catch anything that slipped through.

To accelerate audits, I evaluated external accessibility testing platforms. I led conversations with 3 vendors, coordinated 2-4 week internal trial periods for each, and wrote a comparative report. The winning platform covered 19 WCAG checkpoints automatable through such tools, had the most intuitive interface, competitive pricing, and a promising partnership outlook.

I documented the projected time savings and submitted the proposal for inclusion in the next fiscal year's budget.

Time pressure was the biggest challenge. Many projects were already mid-development or past deadline. My team of three was split across multiple projects, so accessibility work had to be balanced with other priorities. This extended timelines and required careful coordination with dev teams.

When teams pushed back saying they couldn't afford the extra time, I returned to the data: legal penalties for non-compliance, the customer base affected, the cost of fixing issues post-launch vs. during development. In most cases, we found a way to make space. Reviewing the design system helped too - once components were updated, designers worked with compliant building blocks by default.

• Start earlier, push harder. The biggest friction came from introducing accessibility into projects that were already mid-development. Starting earlier - before full leadership buy-in - would have reduced the friction of retrofitting ongoing projects. Building momentum with small wins first can accelerate organizational support.
• Education beats enforcement. Mandating checklists got compliance, but the real shift happened when designers and developers understood why accessibility matters - not just for users with disabilities, but for everyone using a small screen in bright sunlight. Once the mindset changed, the process followed naturally.
• You can't do it alone - and you shouldn't try. Building a small team and distributing responsibility across disciplines (UX, Dev, QA) was what made this sustainable. Accessibility owned by one person doesn't scale.
• Data opens doors that passion can't. My early conversations driven by conviction were met with sympathy but no action. The reports backed by customer numbers, revenue risk, and legal exposure are what actually moved the needle with leadership.
• Progress over perfection. Targeting WCAG Level A first instead of trying to hit AA across everything at once let us show results quickly, build trust, and earn the runway to expand scope over time.