What Disability Pride Month Can Teach Us About Innovation, Accessibility, and the Future of Tech

This July marks both the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Disability Pride Month – a time to celebrate progress and recognize the role people with disabilities have played in shaping how we live, work, and interact with the world. While the ADA was a landmark achievement that redefined public access and civil rights, Disability Pride Month also highlights a lesser-known truth: many of the technologies we rely on today were developed with accessibility in mind.

Most people think of the ADA in physical terms: curb cuts, ramps, braille signage, elevators. And for good reason, as those features radically transformed the built environment. But they also sparked a movement that has extended well beyond buildings and sidewalks.

Take a closer look at everyday conveniences you might take for granted, and you’ll notice a pattern: many were originally designed to assist people with disabilities and later became widely adopted. Touchscreens with haptic feedback, for example, were influenced by research into tools that could help blind users navigate digital interfaces through touch. Comcast’s Xfinity voice-controlled remote was developed to help individuals with physical disabilities more easily access TV content and has since become a staple in millions of households, contributing to the rise of voice-controlled technology as a standard feature. Even digital communication has roots in accessibility; the teletypewriter (TTY), invented by a deaf scientist in the 1960s, was one of the first digital tools enabling real-time text communication for deaf users and laid the foundation for the messaging platforms we rely on today.

These innovations didn’t come from designing for the average user. They came from designing for real, specific needs and then realizing those solutions unlock better experiences for everyone.

A Brief History of Accessibility Progress

To understand how we got here, it helps to look at some of the milestones that shaped accessibility as we know it today:

• 1973: The Rehabilitation Act becomes the first U.S. federal civil rights law protecting people with disabilities, including Section 504 which prohibits discrimination by federally funded programs.

• 1990: The ADA is signed, setting new standards for accessibility in public spaces, employment, and communications.

• 1998: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is updated to require federal agencies to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.

• 1999: The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) establishes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a set of international standards or recommendations for web content accessibility.

• 2008: The introduction of the iPhone and later its VoiceOver feature marks a major leap in digital accessibility on mobile devices. 

• 2017: Microsoft launches the Xbox Adaptive Controller, making gaming more accessible to users with limited mobility.

• 2018-2023: Social media platforms begin implementing AI-generated alt-text and auto-captioning to improve the usability for users with visual and hearing impairments.

• 2024-2025: Global regulations and awareness expand, including the DOJ’s updates to Title II of the ADA, HHS rules for digital healthcare, and the European Accessibility Act, which now affects digital services across the EU.

We’re continuing to see a surge in AI-powered tools that improve digital accessibility, from real-time image descriptions and screen-reader enhancements to AI-generated alt text that reduces manual labor and speeds up compliance efforts.

And yet, even with these advances, digital inaccessibility remains the norm.

AudioEye’s 2025 Digital Accessibility Index, an analysis of 15,000 websites across industries, revealed an average of 297 accessibility issues per page. Each of these issues represents a potential barrier for the 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities, proving that many websites still have accessibility issues that could prevent people with disabilities from completing basic tasks like applying for a job, accessing healthcare, or booking a trip.

Why Accessibility Still Matters, and What Businesses Should Do Now

Accessibility is a business imperative. It directly impacts customer experience, market reach, and brand trust, and for forward-thinking companies, it can be a strong competitive advantage. By creating more accessible digital experiences, businesses tap into a broader customer base, reaching the 1 in 4 U.S. adults who live with a disability, as well as aging populations and others who benefit from more adaptable design.

Accessibility also drives measurable business outcomes, as can improve usability for all customers and website visitors. Accessible websites tend to perform better in search rankings and conversions, as they prioritize clarity, structure, and performance. And from a risk standpoint, companies that proactively address digital accessibility are better protected from costly lawsuits and reputational damage. Perhaps most importantly, building accessibility into your digital stack from the start leads to more resilient, scalable products that can adapt to future technologies, users, and regulations.

What Disability Pride Month Reminds Us

Disability Pride Month is a time to recognize the creativity, resilience, and contributions of people with disabilities, not only in shaping accessibility laws, but in shaping the very tools and technologies we use every day.

It’s also a powerful reminder that some of the world’s most widely adopted innovations didn’t come from designing for the “typical” user. They came from solving problems at the margins where need and ingenuity intersect.

Whether you’re managing a website, launching a new product, or adapting to new regulations, there’s one proven approach that keeps coming out ahead: Start with accessibility. Build for real-world needs. The results speak for themselves.