  A UserWay study in 2021 indicates that an annual global e-commerce revenue
loss of approximately $16 billion can be attributed to inaccessible websites
and applications. According to the 2023 WebAIM study, only 3.7% of the world's
top one million website homepages are fully accessible. This shows that many
software developers use poor coding practices that don't adhere to the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This research centers on software
professionals and their role in addressing accessibility. This work seeks to
understand (a) who within the software development community actively practices
accessibility, (b) when and how accessibility is considered in the software
development lifecycle, (c) the various challenges encountered in building
accessible software, and (d) the resources required by software professionals
to enhance product accessibility. Our survey of 269 software professionals from
India sheds light on the pressing need for accessibility education within the
software industry. A substantial majority (69.9%, N=269) of respondents express
the need for training materials, workshops, and bootcamps to enhance their
accessibility skills. We present a list of actionable recommendations that can
be implemented within the industry to promote accessibility awareness and
skills. We also open source our raw data for further research, encouraging
continued exploration in this domain.
