Standards are critical, but they should be used to enable the brand, not disable it (pardon the pun).
We don't just mean standards in the sense of 'web standards' (the frameworks laid down by the W3C that have been the foundation of most accessibility debates) although they play their part. We mean usability standards, market practices, and proven techniques. A good, modern site should be immediately accessible to everyone who wishes to use it, and in this sense accessibility comes from clear, simple, logical design: from obvious and consistent navigation to clearly laid out pages of content. The line between usability and accessibility is becoming increasingly blurred: fundamentally, it's all about good design.
Design, in all senses, has a massive role to play in making sites universally accessible. Creating an exceptional website should be about accessibility to everyone, on every level: every project should have this as a central requirement, and that's clearly a responsibility of site owners.
At a more technical level, forget about 'fixing' your site for the disabled and focus on ensuring that all audiences can use it successfully. Sure, there are development requirements that are specific to disabled audiences, but in general coding in an 'accessible' way is just coding in a 'good' way.
Fundamentally, this means separating structured content from presentation: using (X)HTML to store content, and CSS (stylesheets) to control its layout and appearance. Very little additional work is required to fully support disabled audiences if the site has been designed and built properly in the first place.
It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to develop their site in any other way. You get a site that is fast (because HTML page sizes are smaller), compatible (cross-platform, cross-browser, now and in the future) and flexible (easy to make design changes site-wide). You'll comply perfectly with the accessibility 'laws' with very little effort. And, despite anything you've been told, you should not be charged a premium: it takes no longer (and sometimes far less time) to develop in this way.
This is surely where the industry should be focusing its efforts: demonstrating that by embracing modern standards you can deliver a site that embodies everything about your brand, and improves the online experience for everyone.
Make compromises with your brand, or with design quality, and you will end up with a compliant site that fails to engage anyone. So forget about accessibility as a defensive issue and start to view it as an opportunity to make your site as good as it can be for every single person you want to have a relationship with.
One thing is for certain: focusing on the quality of experience delivered to every customer will create the most successful sites in the years ahead and, as a consequence, all the best sites will be accessible to everyone. Let's make sure that we never need another report like this one.
Related information:
Disability Rights Commission website:
www.drc.gov.uk
The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People:
http://www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/report.asp
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