Talk Like A Pirate Day. National Cheese Pizza Day. There seems to be an awareness day for everything. Some are more light-hearted than others (no offence to any pirates or pizza lovers reading this), but some carry real weight.
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and it’s one we can get behind at AG Grid.
For many of our users, accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a priority. Whether they’re building internal tools or public-facing apps, they need to ensure everyone can access and interact with their applications. In fact, for some teams, accessibility is a key reason they choose AG Grid.
According to the GAAD website, over 1 billion people worldwide live with a disability. And yet, accessibility is still often an afterthought in many development projects, if considered at all.
Whether you’re building a dashboard, a data-heavy app, or anything in between, accessibility matters. Not just for compliance, but for usability, performance, and ultimately, inclusion.
Accessibility and the law
Many organisations are now required by law to meet specific accessibility standards. This can vary wildly depending on your location and the industry you are in. However, even if you are not required to by law, accessibility is still worth taking seriously. The legal frameworks and guidelines are based on sound design and development principles, and when applied, they enhance your applications for everyone.
The most widely referenced accessibility standards include:
- ADA – the Americans with Disabilities Act (US law)
- Section 508 – applies to US federal agencies and contractors
- WCAG 2.0 – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (used globally)
Web conformance guides: what do the standards contain?
Working towards these standards can help to futureproof your business. We know that standards are increasingly being required in tenders, RFPs and procurement processes. These frameworks help developers and teams build better apps, especially when dealing with complex UIs.
WCAG is built on four key principles that content is
- Perceivable – Users must be able to perceive the content (e.g. text alternatives for images, captions for videos).
- Operable – Users must be able to interact with the interface (e.g. keyboard navigation, no time-limited tasks).
- Understandable – Content and operation must be clear and predictable (e.g. consistent navigation, readable text).
- Robust – Content must work with current and future technologies, including assistive devices (e.g. clean HTML, proper ARIA use).
And the standards are evolving. Each evolution from WCAG 2.0 to 2.2 demonstrates an expansion of accessibility standards to better support a wider range of users and technologies.
WCAG 2.0:
Defines three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA. Most organisations aim for Level AA, which provides a strong, practical balance of inclusivity and feasibility, and also satisfies both ADA and Section 508.
WCAG 2.1:
Built on 2.0 by adding new success criteria to improve accessibility for mobile users, people with low vision, and users with cognitive disabilities.
WCAG 2.2:
Further extends 2.1 by addressing more cognitive and motor accessibility needs, especially around focus, inputs, and navigation.
The next major update, WCAG 3.0, is already in development. It aims to be more flexible and holistic, covering a broader range of disabilities, technologies (like apps and emerging interfaces), and user experiences. While it's still a working draft, it will eventually replace the 2.x versions, but this is likely to occur over several years, with both versions running in parallel during the transition.
The risk of leaving accessibility until the end of your build
Accessibility can’t just be a checkbox at the end of a sprint. Retrofitting it is more challenging, more expensive, and less likely to address key usability needs.
In 2024 alone, over 4,000 digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in the US. Many involved websites that relied on overlays or widgets that didn’t meaningfully address barriers for users.
But accessible design is about more than compliance; it’s a marker of quality and professionalism in today’s software landscape.
With this in mind, all new features we build in AG Grid are designed with accessibility support, including keyboard navigation and screen reader support.
The commercial case for accessibility
The drive for digital accessibility isn’t entirely altruistic. Numerous compelling studies show that businesses that take it seriously often emerge as winners in terms of revenue. A 2020 study by Accenture showed that companies actively engaged in disability inclusion enjoyed 28% higher revenue, double the net income, and 30% higher profit margins than their competitors. If that’s not enough, improving website accessibility can increase conversion rates by up to 50%, demonstrating a direct link between accessible digital experiences and enhanced financial performance.
What does good accessibility look like in a web application?
When thinking about accessibility in a grid or data-heavy UI, there are some key areas to focus on:
- Keyboard support for navigating tables, modals and menus
- ARIA roles and attributes to define interactions
- Colour contrast and visual cues that meet WCAG guidelines
- Labels and alt text for screen readers
You don’t have to perfect every detail from day one, but keeping accessibility in mind early will help you build better apps for everyone.
Resources for designing and building accessible apps
If you’re getting started or want to deepen your accessibility knowledge, here are a few trusted resources we recommend:
- WebAIM – great for UI basics like contrast and layout
- WAI ARIA Authoring Practices – essential patterns for interactive components
- A11y Project Checklist – a developer-friendly accessibility QA tool
These resources can help guide everything from early prototyping to final testing.
Accessibility features in AG Grid and AG Charts
At AG Grid, we’ve made accessibility a core part of how we build. We also know it’s a priority for our users.
That’s why we offer a wide range of built-in accessibility features in both AG Grid and AG Charts, including:
- Full keyboard navigation
- ARIA roles and attributes
- Screen reader compatibility
- High contrast themes
- Focus management
- Documentation and examples for customising with accessibility in mind
You can see our accessibility in action in the AG Charts demo below:
- Tab moves focus between components
- ←→ moves focus between series & legend items
- ↑↓ moves focus between series
- ↵ Enter or ␣ Space toggles legend items and triggers click listeners
As Jonny Wolfson, CTO and co-founder of Adaptable, recently shared:
“Our Grid Guru consultants were recently tasked by a large pharmaceutical company with assessing the accessibility of the 11 different vendor DataGrid products they used.
AG Grid was comfortably in the top category, offering the highest standards of digital accessibility and inclusion (WCAG 2), and was rated first place for support for visually impaired users.”
For more details, check out our docs:
If you are looking to test accessibility in AG Grid, this blog should help you on your way.
Want to know more? AG Grid's Oli Legat, our AG Charts accessibility engineer, will take to the stage at JSNation on 11 June, talking about adding accessibility in charts with the Canvas API.
Final thoughts on building for everyone
Accessibility isn’t a feature. It’s a mindset, one that helps you build for the widest possible range of users.
Whether you’re deep into development or just getting started with accessibility, Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a good reminder to ask: Could more people use what I’m building?
If the answer is “not yet,” you’re not alone. And we’re here to help.