Exploring How Accessibility Responsibility Is Distributed in Agile UX Teams: Moving Toward Shared Ownership
Wang, Xiaoyun (2026)
2026
Master's Programme in Sustainable Societies and Digitalisation
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2026-06-02
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202606016719
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202606016719
Tiivistelmä
Accessibility in digital products is increasingly recognized as a legal and ethical requirement. Yet in many product teams, it remains the responsibility of one person — often a UX designer who champions it without formal mandate or structural support. This study explores how accessibility responsibility is understood, distributed, and negotiated within Agile UX teams, with the goal of offering practical guidance for designers who champion accessibility in their work.
Eight practitioners were recruited from Europe, Asia, and North America through semi-structured interviews. Participants worked across a range of organizational contexts, including B2B and B2C products, agencies, and in-house teams. Data was analyzed using a hybrid thematic analysis approach, combining deductive and inductive coding across three research questions.
The findings are organized into three themes. The first theme identifies structural and organizational barriers — including widespread misconceptions about accessibility, lack of formal processes, and the risk of single-point responsibility. The second theme examines process and practice realities — where breakdowns occur in guidelines, knowledge gaps, and design-to-development handover. The third theme explores what moving toward shared ownership looks like in practice — through shift-left integration, knowledge externalization, and accessibility formalization, such as embedding accessibility into the Definition of Done and treating accessibility issues as bugs to be iterated on.
This study argues that accessibility cannot rely on individual passion alone. It needs to move from heroes to systems — from isolated advocacy to structural commitment. A key insight is that organizations need to shift from a compliance mindset to a culture of accessibility, where accessibility is understood as a human rights issue rather than a legal checkbox. Practical suggestions are offered at both team and organizational levels — including formalizing accessibility processes, building shared knowledge systems, securing leadership commitment, and fostering a culture where accessibility is understood as a human rights issue rather than a compliance task. Together, these contributions aim to help teams make accessibility a genuinely shared responsibility rather than one person's job.
Eight practitioners were recruited from Europe, Asia, and North America through semi-structured interviews. Participants worked across a range of organizational contexts, including B2B and B2C products, agencies, and in-house teams. Data was analyzed using a hybrid thematic analysis approach, combining deductive and inductive coding across three research questions.
The findings are organized into three themes. The first theme identifies structural and organizational barriers — including widespread misconceptions about accessibility, lack of formal processes, and the risk of single-point responsibility. The second theme examines process and practice realities — where breakdowns occur in guidelines, knowledge gaps, and design-to-development handover. The third theme explores what moving toward shared ownership looks like in practice — through shift-left integration, knowledge externalization, and accessibility formalization, such as embedding accessibility into the Definition of Done and treating accessibility issues as bugs to be iterated on.
This study argues that accessibility cannot rely on individual passion alone. It needs to move from heroes to systems — from isolated advocacy to structural commitment. A key insight is that organizations need to shift from a compliance mindset to a culture of accessibility, where accessibility is understood as a human rights issue rather than a legal checkbox. Practical suggestions are offered at both team and organizational levels — including formalizing accessibility processes, building shared knowledge systems, securing leadership commitment, and fostering a culture where accessibility is understood as a human rights issue rather than a compliance task. Together, these contributions aim to help teams make accessibility a genuinely shared responsibility rather than one person's job.