Everywhere I have ever worked, accessibility is 100% an afterthought if it ever even came up at all. In the places where people tried to do something about it, it was never a business priority or explicitly given resources; just something people did out of the kindness of their hearts. And I think that's the whole story. If you want this to change, press on companies to build this in as a concern, the way they should do with performance, security, localization, and whatever else.
12 years in industry across stacks b2b dev experience here. The word "accessibility" or
"disability" never even uttered out loud by developers, stakeholders or otherwise during every single project.
Maybe in like 50 more years it will be more common?
It's not just deadlines that gets a11y chopped off. It's not even remotely considered to begin with, unless a client demanded it specifically. Which never happened. Closest thing I've seen is internationalisation demands.
I've read sentiments and articles indicating that if you DO include good a11y support - these users love you. It garners massive loyalty, as one could imagine.
If you're a grunt serving in the lines? Good luck filling out a comment card after your desk-eaten 23 minute brown bag lunch and maybe the CEO won't fire you for the insubordination of suggesting work off of the most minimal track to $$$. I actually get anxiety sitting here thinking of how much trouble and internal political strife that would have caused in some places.
Businesses in the software industry care 0%. Negative zero.
