From agentic AI to the EAA: 5 accessibility trends to watch in 2026

As AI continues to impact everyday life, what does this mean for accessibility? Will your website still be important in 2026? Can AI do accessibility better than humans? Jonathan Hassell, CEO at digital accessibility specialists Hassell Inclusion, answers the key questions that matter to you in his top five accessibility trends for 2026.

Last year, my focus was on the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which came into force in June 2025, and the ever-increasing influence of AI. Both were spot on.

Has much changed at the start of 2026? Well, we are now seeing the impact of the EAA in marketing across Europe, and AI continues to develop in new and interesting ways.

Beyond that, what else should marketers be watching? Here are my top five accessibility trends for this year.

1. The European Accessibility Act is law – now the monitoring begins

Last year, I talked about the potential impact of the requirements of the EAA. This year we will see the increasing influence of the monitoring bodies tasked with finding (and potentially fining) organizations who have not complied with the local versions of the EAA in each country across Europe.

By the end of 2024, 25 countries had monitoring bodies in place, each with varying degrees of enforcement. In 2025 those bodies began to publish how they were going to go about their monitoring work. And the first lawsuit which referenced the EAA was brought in France, by a group of visually impaired people against four large retailers.

While the rules for complying with the EAA are becoming clearer in each country, organizations’ risk still depends on the countries they operate in, and whether they or their competitors are likely to be a bigger target for monitors. Organizations need to assess their risk carefully, with strategic accessibility experts, rather than those trying to sell accessibility tools or audits. And, where improved accessibility is delivered, they need to understand how best to promote this to get return on investment (ROI) from their work (for example, more customers).

2. Accessibility will be an AI power boost for your content

Marketers have spent years ensuring their content is discoverable. This is nothing new. However, creating content for SEO purposes is fast being superseded by being discoverable in AI summaries.

Did you know that accessibility can help your brand appear in AI summaries and search results?

To appear in AI summaries, AI tools need content that is analysable. And even the simplest accessibility requirements – such as titles, headings, meta descriptions, alt-text, transcripts, descriptive links and readability – will boost AI’s power to understand and discover your content. Just ask CoPilot or Gemini, if you don’t believe me.

And this applies to all content, not just your website or app. For example, including chapters with clear descriptions in video and podcast content will not only help all users navigate it more quickly, it will also make your content more discoverable to AI.

Increasingly, accessibility = visibility.

3. Accessibility will go far beyond your website and app

You will have noticed that I am talking a lot more about content, rather than your website and app. There is a deliberate reason for this.

Developments in agentic AI tools mean that your customers can increasingly get direct access to your web content and make transactions on websites without even visiting the website. To show up in this new world, consumer-facing brands that sell online need agents to able to easily recognize two key things:

• Your data – can they easily find your product and price?
• The transaction – can they automate the transaction in your eShop?

Here again accessibility can play a key role. Making your content accessible, and your checkout process able to be navigated by a screen reader, will make your pages and checkout more ‘scrapable’ and therefore usable to agents.

In addition, accessibility now goes far beyond a screen.

Developments in devices, including Meta Ray-Ban Glasses, virtual reality, and augmented reality, as well as the Internet of Things, mean that accessibility needs to be considered in more types of content and experience than ever before. As with all tech, accessibility is something that needs to be baked in right at the start of any advancements, both so people with disabilities aren’t overlooked, and to avoid costly retrofixes.

New international guidelines for new media types are on their way, in the form of guidelines WCAG 3. But, for the moment, you’ll need to seek out the best sources of accessibility guidelines for the techs you’re using beyond web and app.

4. Accessibility will help you be transparent in the AI age

When it comes to the increasing use of AI, one key word that keeps coming up is ‘trust’. This is particularly true for people with additional accessibility needs.

Take chatbots as an example. They are now part of everyday life and can be a great tool for answering simple customer questions without human intervention.

However, it’s important that users know when they’re talking to AI, not a human. For example, calling a chatbot by a ‘human’ name and using a human avatar may seem like a good way to build trust, but if you haven’t been honest that it is AI, this erodes trust, especially for vulnerable users.

So, be upfront when you use AI, and ensure people know how your content and responses have been created.

5. Accessibility will still need humans

Finally, after all this talk of AI, what about humans?

Linked to my previous point about chatbots is the ability for AI to recognize when human intervention may be needed. For example, have you thought about what would happen if someone is dyslexic and may struggle with spelling or phrasing? Does your chatbot immediately do a ‘computer says no,’ leaving the customer without help?

Your AI needs to be able to adapt to what people are asking, for example, with responses such as ‘I think you’re trying to say this’, ‘can you try rephrasing?’, or ‘can I just confirm?’

However, for many people with disabilities, the option to talk to a human being is non-negotiable in good customer service. You need to decide how many failed attempts for an AI to understand the user should trigger a handover to a live agent, and make that option clear. AI can assist, but human oversight prevents harmful errors.

Beyond that specific example, AI needs humans, especially those with disabilities, to bring humanity to product and campaign ideas. This ensures we create things that are needed, not just because they’re possible.

Humans are also needed to partner with AI to check the nuance, purpose, and accuracy that is delivered via AI tools. For accessibility to happen, we need those with authentic life experience, technology smarts, and knowledge of business and ROI to come together as allies.

Accessibility should be your strategic investment in 2026

What these trends show is that AI has revolutionized how we interact with brands and how we approach accessibility in campaigns and product creation. Accessibility is becoming increasingly essential to avoid legal risks and the loss of revenue that comes from exclusion. It can be overwhelming to think about the implications and where to direct budget in the best way.

Our advice? Don’t just chase the trends without a robust accessibility strategy. Only by finding out what users need and what tools will be most beneficial, will you be able to see how accessibility can help you win in 2026.