What are the Most Common Accessibility Issues?

What are the most common accessibility issues?

The vast majority of accessibility failures come down to five recurring problems: low-contrast text, missing image alt text, empty links, absent form labels, and missing page language. 

In the 2026 WebAIM Million audit of the top one million homepages, over 94% had detectable WCAG failures, and low-contrast text alone appeared in roughly four out of five sites. These same issues repeat across websites, and most take little effort to fix.

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

First, low-contrast text. If the color contrast between text and background falls below the WCAG ratio of 4.5 to 1, users with visual disabilities, such as low-vision, can’t read it. 

Second, missing alt text. Every meaningful image needs a text description, or screen reader users can’t understand or interact with images. 

Third, empty links and buttons. A link with no readable label is announced simply as “link,” leaving users with no clear idea of what will happen when the link is clicked. 

Fourth, missing form labels. Inputs without programmatic labels make checkouts and sign-ups unusable by keyboard or screen reader users. 

Fifth, missing page language. Without a declared language, screen readers can mispronounce the entire page. 

That’s the five. Together, they account for most of a typical site’s WCAG failures. And those failures matter legally: the ADA is the legal requirement, WCAG 2.1 AA is the technical standard U.S. courts use to measure compliance with the law.