Saudi Arabia's DGA Web Accessibility Mandate — A WCAG 2.1 AA Rule That Independent Audits Show Government Sites Are Still Failing

Saudi Arabia's Digital Government Authority (DGA) sets binding accessibility guidelines requiring government and private-sector digital platforms -- websites, portals and apps -- to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Agencies including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) and the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) have published their own accessibility policies referencing the DGA standard, with some committing to the stricter Level AAA.
Independent academic evaluation, however, shows a persistent gap between the rule on paper and the experience of users with disabilities. A peer-reviewed study assessing Saudi e-government systems from a visually-impaired user's perspective found 441 accessibility violations across the government services tested, with none of the sites meeting even the minimum (Level A) WCAG conformance level. Roughly three-quarters to four-fifths of the violations were Level A failures -- the most basic tier -- chiefly missing text alternatives for images and non-functioning keyboard navigation, both of which block screen-reader and motor-impaired users outright.
The case illustrates a common pattern in digital-accessibility policy: a well-specified, internationally-aligned mandate exists, but implementation and enforcement lag behind, and the people the rule is meant to protect are the ones who encounter the gap first. It is included here as an honest account of where standard-setting alone has not yet closed the accessibility gap, alongside the DGA's continuing efforts -- updated guidance and sector-specific agency policies -- to close it.

Read the full analysis: https://dga.gov.sa/en/Web_Accessibility_of_Government_Websites