Accessibility by Design: Practical A11y for Everyday Software Engineering (bobkonf2026)

Accessibility is often treated as a mere compliance checkbox or something the “UI people” worry about at the end of a project. In reality, accessibility is a core quality attribute of software systems, and many of the biggest wins come from small decisions developers make every day: how we structure HTML, name components, log errors, design APIs, or write tests. In this talk, we look at accessibility from a software engineering perspective. I will introduce the most common types of disabilities and assistive technologies, then show how they map to concrete engineering practices across the stack: semantics (and ARIA) in the frontend, accessible design systems, error message design, and test automation for accessibility. Attendees will leave with a practical checklist they can use in coding and code reviews. The goal is not to make everyone an accessibility expert, but to make accessibility a natural part of our everyday engineering work. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de about this event: https://bobkonf.de/2026/engelbrecht.html