Measuring accessibility for culture: four lessons every organisation should know
- Philena Bremner
- Jun 9
- 7 min read
How do you measure something rooted in lived experience, like accessibility culture? Standard industry models often fall short. That’s why a specialist team of us here at Solirius Reply built a bespoke framework to capture organisational reality, not just policies and promises. Here are four lessons on measuring the “unmeasurable” and turning good intentions into real maturity.
A culture of accessibility is the mindset and everyday practice of providing products and services that can be used by as many people as possible, without unnecessary barriers. It’s not about perfection; it’s about making thoughtful, inclusive choices by default rather than as a last-minute fix.
When organisations fail to meet accessible needs, the cost is measurable. In the UK, inaccessible websites lose billions of pounds each year as customers with accessibility needs leave. On the other hand, accessible services can drive growth. For example, Tesco’s accessible grocery site increased online sales by 350%, adding £13 million in annual revenue from a £35,000 investment.
Accessibility also matters to your employees and partners. A 2025 Catalyst/Meltzer survey found that 76% of employees are more likely to stay, and 60% look for employers who invest in inclusion, including accessible tools. This can mean a colleague with a motor impairment can use internal systems easily, or a customer with a screen reader can use your service without barriers.
A strong accessibility culture is visible when it’s considered as part of everyday work. It shapes how products are made, how tools are chosen, and how content is created. It’s not just added at the end or only when there’s extra time. This approach removes avoidable barriers so more people, both staff and customers, can engage, participate, and work without extra challenges.
So, how can leaders measure accessibility based on real-life experience?
Real progress begins by understanding your current situation, for both customers and employees.
Accessibility Maturity Models (AMMs) help uncover hidden issues. AMMs provide the framework, while accessibility maturity assessments apply that framework in practice. They give organisations a way to track progress, set priorities, and embed accessibility into everyday culture.
At Solirius Reply, we created a comprehensive maturity assessment framework designed to scale across organisations. Following its successful application with a recent client, here is what we learned about measuring the unmeasurable - and what it really takes to drive change.
How an accessibility maturity assessment works: the framework for growth
Before we share our experience, it helps to know how these accessibility maturity assessments can work for your organisation. A maturity assessment gives you a structured way to understand progress by helping you answer key questions about your accessibility journey:
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go?
How can you prioritise issues for change?
What are the incremental, achievable steps you should take?
How can you set a benchmark for future review?
How do you build a shared vision for everyone in your organisation?
To answer these questions, assessments use two main parts: Pillars and Levels. This structure helps make accessibility a clear, manageable program instead of an abstract goal.
Pillars: the key areas of focus
Pillars, also called dimensions, are the main areas an organisation should focus on to build a strong, lasting accessibility practice. They are the foundation of a mature accessibility program:
Vision is all about strategy.
Leadership checks for that crucial buy-in from the top.
Capability is about your staff's knowledge and training.
Procurement looks at how you buy things and manage suppliers.
Processes assess whether accessibility is genuinely built into how you work.
Levels: measuring your progress
Levels are a scale for rating your organisation's maturity in each pillar. The scale usually goes from 1 (initial) to 5 (leading), making it easy to track progress over time. By rating each pillar, you create a clear maturity map. For example, your Processes might be 'Established' while Procurement is still 'Initial.'
Combining pillars and levels
Together, these parts form a grid that helps your organisation see its exact maturity level and the list of criteria for each key area. The example shown is a simplified version of what the grid could look like:
Lesson 1: Standard tools don't always work - sometimes you need to build your own
When we first set out to develop a robust assessment framework, we reviewed three leading AMMs to see what already existed:
AbilityNet Digital Accessibility Maturity Model (DAMM): clean structure and clarity, but ultimately too high-level for the depth we needed.
Business Disability Forum model: visually strong, but the wording was inconsistent and ambiguous in places.
W3C model: excellent for gathering evidence, but too focused on documentation to fully capture cultural realities and lived experience.
Each model had something valuable, yet none offered the complete picture. So we built our own framework, blending AbilityNet's clarity with the W3C's rigour, and extending it across strategy, operations, and everyday practice. This framework addresses the weaknesses we identified, enables faster implementation for leaders, provides clearer decision-making reporting, and aligns with business goals. It is detailed enough to capture evidence, clear enough to avoid ambiguity, and broad enough to reflect both documentation and cultural reality.
Lesson 2: Rigorous methodology reveals the truth
When we worked with our client for their four-week assessment, we knew we had to dig deep in a short time to give them a clear picture of where they stood. We needed a method that used multiple data sources to show the whole story.
Our approach consisted of:
stakeholder interviews with key stakeholders across the organisation, structured around our five pillars
staff survey that achieved a 20% response rate, providing broad quantitative and qualitative data on cultural awareness and day-to-day practice
documentation review of existing policies, procedures, and internal communications to gather documentary evidence of accessibility practices
thematic analysis of interview data, using framework analysis to map findings against our maturity model
triangulation of all data sources to validate findings and ensure a comprehensive view
This multi-layered approach meant we didn’t just ask, "Do you have a policy?" We also checked if people knew about it, used it, and whether it made a real difference.
Lesson 3: Good intentions don't equal maturity
Many organisations want to be accessible, but good intentions alone don’t build real capability.
Our assessment revealed clear strengths: strong leadership intent, genuine grassroots staff passion, growing cultural awareness, and promising progress in inclusive recruitment. There was energy and commitment across the organisation.
But it also revealed significant gaps. As one staff member put it:
“We have a commitment, but we struggle with the knowledge to follow it up.”
The high-level areas of improvement we identified included:
opportunity to simplify ownership by establishing central governance and coordination
enhancing understanding of what accessibility means across different roles
clarifying accountability for achieving accessibility outcomes, creating clear processes for managing accessibility requirements with third-party vendors
The maturity scores highlighted exactly where support was needed.
All five categories fall below the benchmark, indicating that the organisation is currently in the "Developing" stage or lower across the board. Procurement (1.4) and Leadership (1.8) are the weakest areas, both below the "Developing" threshold. Capability (2.25), Vision (2.3), and Processes (2.25) show moderate progress but still need improvement to reach "Established" and meet the industry benchmark of 3.
These are the things that turn good intentions into actual results, and the data showed exactly where they needed to focus.
Lesson 4: A clear roadmap turns insight into action
A maturity score only matters if it leads to real change. We didn’t just share numbers; we built a three-step roadmap to move from quick wins to lasting cultural change.
We organised the recommendations into:
1. Quick wins: immediate, low-effort changes that build momentum. These might include things like improving resource discoverability, streamlining feedback channels, or enhancing internal communications. These actions provide quick evidence of progress.
2. Planned improvements: medium-term changes that require coordination and investment. Examples could include structured training programs, process documentation, or capability initiatives. These build confidence within the organisation.
3. Strategic changes: long-term transformation involving governance, budget, and sustained commitment. This could involve establishing governance frameworks, implementing regular review cycles, or embedding accountability structures. These actions embed accessibility into the organisation's culture.
This step-by-step approach lets the organisation take action right away while working toward bigger, long-term changes. Progress can start now; it doesn’t have to wait for everything to be perfect.
Conclusion: Turning measurement into movement
Accessibility is about people and measuring it is never easy. But with an honest, evidence-based assessment, organisations can turn good intentions into real, lasting action. When everyone sees the gap between where they think they are and where they actually are, real change can happen. As one stakeholder said:
"It gave us clarity - where we are now, and where we need to go."
That clarity is what our accessibility maturity framework provides. Tested in real situations and backed by a solid method, it helps organisations answer the key question: "Where are we, and how do we move forward?"
So, how will your team’s next project include accessibility? When everyone takes ownership, interest can grow into action and help build a more inclusive culture.
If your organisation is ready to understand where you stand and chart a path forward, we can help. Our accessibility maturity framework is proven and repeatable. Contact us to learn how we can support your accessibility journey. Please email us at accessibility@solirius.com. For those who reach out, we offer an initial consultation to discuss your specific needs and challenges. During this phase, we outline the assessment timeline and the key deliverables you can expect, ensuring that you have a clear understanding of the process ahead.
About the authors
Philena Bremner is a Senior Accessibility Specialist who believes inclusive design is less about code and more about connection. She looks beyond compliance checklists to help organisations create digital experiences where every user feels valued.
Rowan Godfrey is a Junior Accessibility Specialist dedicated to making digital experiences inclusive for all users.
Louise Morales-Brown is a Senior User Researcher, passionate about understanding people's experiences to create more accessible and meaningful products.
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