How Accessible eLearning Unlocks Strategic Business Wins

Accessibility in eLearning isn’t just a legal requirement — it’s a strategic opportunity to elevate your organization’s learning outcomes, employee engagement, and operational efficiency. As highlighted in the IDIODC podcast episode featuring Susi Miller, accessible design transforms learning experiences for everyone, not just those with disabilities. For L&D leaders the stakes can be high: accessible learning content can help drive measurable business results, while neglecting it can lead to costly consequences.

Let’s explore how accessibility can help you achieve strategic wins and address the risks of overlooking it.

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Are You Missing Out on 25% of Your Workforce?

How well do you know your workforce? Research from Boston Consulting Group reveals a striking gap: while most organizations assume only 4-7% of employees have disabilities, the actual figure is closer to 25%. This means a significant portion of employees may struggle with inaccessible training materials — hindering their productivity and engagement.

What does this mean for your organization?

• Lost productivity: Employees waste time attempting to consume inaccessible content.

• Lower morale: Exclusionary designs, accidental or otherwise, erode trust and commitment.

• Missed opportunities: Diverse talent may avoid organizations without inclusive practices.

Susi Miller emphasizes that accessibility isn’t just about permanent disabilities; it also addresses temporary or situational needs, such as working in noisy environments or using mobile devices with limited functionality.

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Accessibility as a Strategic Advantage

Accessible eLearning benefits everyone — not just those with disabilities. By integrating accessibility into your design process, you can create content that is clearer, more engaging, and easier to navigate for all learners. Here’s how accessibility drives strategic value:

Better Learning Outcomes for All

Accessible design aligns with instructional best practices, such as clear navigation, plain language, and consistent layouts. According to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, accessible design improves usability for all users, leading to higher retention and better learning outcomes.

Miller notes that accessible content “really puts your learner at the center of the learning.” This learner-centric approach ensures that everyone — not just those with disabilities — benefits from a more intuitive and effective experience.

Boosting Business Performance

Organizations that prioritize accessibility outperform their peers. Accenture research shows companies embracing disability inclusion achieve:

• 28% higher revenue
• 30% higher profit margins
• Double the net income

For L&D teams, accessible content can reduce overall training costs, improves usability across diverse audiences, and demonstrates organizational values in action — enhancing both internal culture and external reputation.

Becoming Change Agents

L&D teams often lead accessibility initiatives within their organizations. As Miller explains, learning teams frequently act as “catalysts” for spreading inclusive practices across departments like marketing or branding, amplifying their impact organization-wide.

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Strategies for Embedding Accessibility into Your Workflow

To fully integrate accessibility into your eLearning production process, consider these strategic approaches:

Understand Your Starting Point

Before diving into improvements, it’s critical to assess your current accessibility maturity level. Susi Miller’s eLa1000 Accessibility Assessment provides a data-driven benchmark to pinpoint strengths and gaps in your eLearning content. This 10–15 minute evaluation:

• Establishes a baseline against WCAG standards

• Identifies high-impact fixes to prioritize

• Enables your organization to track progress over time through repeat assessments

By participating, you are contributing to industry-wide data that will help shape best practices for our industry, while gaining actionable insights for your organization. As Miller notes, “The benchmark empowers teams to see where they’re at and feel confident about moving forward.”

Start Small and Build Momentum

Improving accessibility doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Use insights from the eLa1000 Accessibility Assessment to prioritize high-impact, easy-to-fix issues in your current content — such as missing alt text, poor color contrast, or unclear navigation. These “quick wins” deliver immediate value while building momentum for larger initiatives.

Gradually tackle harder-to-address challenges, like complex interactive elements or video captions — as your team’s knowledge and confidence grow.

Over time, with better knowledge and confidence of your team, aim for fully embedding accessibility into your production processes.

• Shift Accessibility Left in Your Workflow
  Incorporate accessibility considerations early in the design process to avoid costly rework later. Build it into every stage — from storyboarding to development — to ensure inclusivity is baked into your content from day one.
  

• Build Accessibility into QA Processes
  Combine accessibility checks with regular quality assurance processes instead of handling them separately. This streamlines workflows and ensures consistent standards across all content types.
  

• Empower Your Team
  Invest in training your instructional designers on accessibility principles and tools. Encourage collaboration with users who rely on assistive technologies to gain firsthand insights into their needs.

• Leverage Technology Wisely
  Emerging technologies like AI can streamline tasks such as generating alternative text or simplifying language complexity. However, human oversight remains critical to ensure contextually accurate results.

How dominKnow | ONE Supports Accessible Content Production

dominKnow | ONE is a content production platform that empowers L&D teams to create accessible eLearning content seamlessly, without sacrificing speed or quality:

• Authoring Features:  support for WCAG 2.2 standards helps to ensure compliance during design.
  For example: Utilizing reuseable themes that are set up with correct color and font choices can streamline development; Descriptions added to image assets are automatically applied to alt text when authors insert them into their projects.

• Streamlined QA: Integrated collaboration features allow reviewing content directly within the platform.
  While not all reviewers are accessibility experts, the review process enables your team to easily see which items are focused, what screen reader and alt text are used and make comments that are tagged as accessibility issues, thus streamlining the process for all members of your team.  

• Content Reusability: Effortless reuse of accessible content without additional QA.
  This accelerates production timelines while maintaining high standards such as WCAG compliance.  

• Collaboration Tools: dominKnow | ONE fosters teamwork by allowing real-time feedback and iterative improvements during development. When creating content, and seeking to make it fully accessible, don’t forget to leverage expertise outside your normal circle.  

Leveraging dominKnow | ONE can provide your team a jumpstart on their journey towards embedding accessibility into every aspect of their workflow — saving time, reducing costs, and delivering superior learning experiences.

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The Cost of Ignoring Accessibility

Failing to prioritize accessibility comes with significant risks:

• Legal exposure: Non-compliance with WCAG standards can lead to lawsuits.

• Reputational damage: Organizations seen as exclusionary may face public backlash.

• Reduced engagement: Employees who feel unsupported are less likely to stay motivated.

As Miller warns, “The hidden risk of not making your learning content accessible is missing out on an amazing opportunity to improve both practice and outcomes.”

Take Action Today

Accessibility isn’t just about compliance — it’s about creating better experiences for everyone while driving real business results. By embedding accessibility into your workflows and leveraging platforms like dominKnow | ONE, you’ll deliver more impactful learning experiences and position yourself as a leader in innovation.

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