Members of Falling Forward, a network of Accessibility pioneers. The author with Chris Maher, Darren Gladstone, Emily Gerhardstein, Lee-Anne Reuber, Lisa Tulipani and Paul Kent.
Bill Schiffmiller
Earlier this year, following a private accessibility gathering tied to Apple's 50th anniversary, I wrote about what I called Accessibility 2.0, a shift beyond compliance and accommodation toward a broader vision of innovation, leadership, and human-centered design.
Since introducing the concept, I have found myself asking a simple question, does Accessibility 2.0 mean the same thing to others as it does to me?
Over the past year, I have had the privilege of being associated with Falling Forward Fridays, a business network of leaders in accessibility serving as investors, entrepreneurs, innovators, advocates, and advisors. The network was brought together by Bob Ludke of Value Inclusion and Lee-Anne Reuber of Sekond Skin Society, who recognized the value of creating a space where conversations about accessibility could move beyond compliance to broader discussions about leadership, innovation, communication, and human experience.
Accessibility remains at the center of every discussion. What makes the conversations unique is that participants rarely view it in isolation. Conversations move comfortably between entrepreneurship, investment, business strategy, customer experience, innovation, accessibility, and lived experience. Members openly share what they are learning as they build organizations, attract investment, develop new markets, serve customers, and navigate the opportunities and challenges of advancing accessibility in the real world.
Recently, I posed a question to the group, What is Accessibility 2.0?
Given the collective experience around the table, I expected the conversation to focus on familiar topics such as accommodation, compliance, assistive technology, or accessibility standards. Instead, the discussion moved in a different direction. Participants spoke about confidence, dignity, joy, collaboration, normalization, and value creation.
What surprised me was not the diversity of perspectives. It was the degree of alignment.
Although participants came from different industries and had different experiences, they arrived at remarkably similar conclusions. The conversation was no longer focused on accessibility as a discipline. It focused on accessibility as a way to understand people and create better experiences.
For decades, accessibility conversations largely lived inside compliance departments, legal frameworks, and accommodation programs. While important, those structures often positioned accessibility as a reactive function rather than a strategic one.
The conversations taking place through Falling Forward Fridays suggest something different is emerging.
Accessibility is increasingly being viewed as a lens through which organizations can better understand employees, customers, and communities. Once accessibility is viewed through that lens, it naturally expands into conversations about leadership, innovation, communication, customer experience, and growth.
That shift may be one of the defining characteristics of Accessibility 2.0.
It is not that compliance becomes less important. It is that compliance alone is no longer sufficient.
One theme surfaced repeatedly throughout the discussion, human variability is not an exception. It is the reality organizations serve every day.
Aging populations, multilingual workforces, hearing differences, cognitive diversity, changing communication preferences, and evolving customer expectations are now part of the operating environment for nearly every business.
Accessibility 2.0 recognizes that designing for human variability often produces better outcomes for everyone.
This perspective represents a meaningful shift. Instead of treating accessibility as a specialized accommodation for a small group of people, it becomes a philosophy that improves products, services, environments, and experiences for a much broader audience.
In that sense, Accessibility 2.0 is not about designing for limitations. It is about designing for humanity.
Perhaps the most business-oriented perspective came from Bob Ludke of Value Inclusion.
“Genuine inclusion drives innovation and expands markets. Organizations that design and accommodate for the full range of human experience do not just do good. They build better products and drive market opportunity through more loyal customers.”
His observation highlights another important dimension of Accessibility 2.0.
Accessibility is increasingly being discussed not only as a matter of inclusion, but also as a source of innovation, market creation, customer loyalty, and long-term value.
That perspective appeared frequently throughout our conversations. Members routinely exchanged ideas on attracting investment, building sustainable businesses, developing markets, and scaling impact. Accessibility remained the centerpiece of the discussion, but it was increasingly viewed through the lens of growth and opportunity rather than limitation and obligation.
Toward the end of our discussion, I asked participants to describe Accessibility 2.0 in a few words.
My own answer was “accessibility for all.”
What struck me most was that none of these responses focused on compliance, standards, or regulation. Instead, they focused on human outcomes and business outcomes. Confidence. Dignity. Joy. Acceptance. Participation. Value creation.
Together, they describe something much larger than accessibility as traditionally understood.
When I first introduced the idea of Accessibility 2.0, I believed it represented an evolution in how organizations think about accessibility.
After listening to the perspectives shared through Forward Fridays, I have come to a different conclusion.
Accessibility 2.0 is not simply the next chapter of accessibility.
It is the recognition that understanding human variability leads to better products, better services, stronger organizations, and ultimately better experiences for everyone.
Accessibility for all.
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