Held on June 3 in Brussels, the UX-Conf Belgium brought together a diverse crowd of UX professionals and digital design experts to explore one of the most pressing challenges in the industry today: accessibility. Through a keynote and roundtable discussion, participants reflected on the human, organizational, and technical dimensions of building digital experiences that truly include everyone.
“An inclusive society needs a trusted identity,” stated Thijs Degheldere, Product Designer at itsme, in his opening keynote. With that, the tone was set for the evening, focused on making accessibility a cornerstone of responsible and effective digital design.
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Keynote: “How itsme is paving the way for digital accessibility”
Launched in 2017, itsme has grown into a trusted identity solution used across over 3,000 platforms in 17 countries—allowing people to log in to their banks, confirm payments, and share personal data securely. Thijs shared compelling figures: a fivefold increase in digital interactions with government services, a 25% boost in payment conversions, and a 26% reduction in fraud—proof that inclusive design can drive real impact.
But statistics alone don't make a product accessible. “Every design decision has the potential to include or exclude users,” Thijs reminded the audience. That's why in 2022, itsme rebuilt its app from scratch to take full advantage of native accessibility features on iOS and Android. And while WCAG remains a useful baseline, Thijs argued that its limitations require a more human-centered approach—turning to APCA, which is based on human visual perception.
Accessibility at itsme also means involving users with disabilities from the start, co-designing with experts, and simplifying the experience with a “less is more” approach. The team introduced motivational elements to clearly communicate the app's value and ease of use, especially for people with low digital fluency.
Other efforts include dedicated research projects such as improving usability for users with intellectual disabilities or enabling political participation for people with disabilities.
The key takeaway? Accessibility shouldn't be treated as a box to tick—it's a mindset rooted in inclusion. It's not just about complying with regulations like the European Accessibility Act or meeting WCAG standards, but about embedding accessibility into the very way we think about digital design.
And importantly, an accessible product doesn't automatically guarantee an accessible service. Accessibility starts with ensuring that the service itself is inclusive and usable for all—only then can we build products that truly serve everyone.
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Roundtable: 'Unleash the power of your digital accessibility'
The roundtable discussion, Unleash the Power of Your Digital Accessibility, brought together a panel of experts: Monika Bachul (Content Product Owner at STIB), Stefano Rigano (Product Lead Designer at Odoo), Thijs Degheldere (Product Designer at itsme®), and Arnaud Poffé (Lead UX/UI Designer & Accessibility Specialist at UX-Republic), moderated by Maude Van Rymenant (Lead Product Designer at UX-Republic).
“Investing in accessibility is investing in society,” said Stefano Rigano. At Odoo, the website builder gives users flexibility, but it can also introduce accessibility problems. To help, the platform flags basic issues like missing H1 tags. Still, as Stefano noted, not everything is easy to detect automatically—some aspects require more awareness and judgment.
Monika Bachul shared STIB's step-by-step approach. They focus on accessibility throughout the process: team training, accessible design choices, direct feedback from users, and even regular testing with a visually impaired user. “It's by doing a little at every stage that it becomes part of the culture,” she explained.
For Arnaud Poffe, accessibility isn't something optional or added at the end. “It's the standard,” he emphasized. He pointed to three essential ingredients: collaboration, speaking a common language, and using a solid design system. When accessibility is built in from the start, teams don't need to go back and fix things later constantly.
On the content side, Monika discussed the challenge of having multiple contributors with different writing styles. To ensure clarity, her team developed a content design system which includes content guidelines such as “imagine we are addressing to a 14-year-old” or “address clearly where the hyperlink goes” instead of using vague terms like “click here”.
Thijs also brought attention to the challenges developers face: testing with different assistive technologies and across real-world user scenarios. He emphasized the importance of shared technical understanding and smooth collaboration within teams.
He also introduced the idea of “glocal” accessibility—thinking globally while acting locally. “One-size-fits-all doesn’t work,” he said. Different countries have their own laws, digital maturity, and levels of trust. That's why inclusive services need to be designed with a strong sense of local context—something itsme has embraced as part of its design philosophy.
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Accessibility as a Mindset, Not a Checklist
The conversations at UX-Conf Belgium 2025 made one thing clear: accessibility is not just a technical requirement or a legal checkbox—it's a mindset rooted in inclusion, empathy, and responsibility. From designing with real users in mind to adapting to local contexts, the most impactful digital experiences come from teams who prioritize accessibility from the very beginning. When we approach accessibility not as an afterthought but as a core design principle, we don't just improve products—we build a more equitable digital world for everyone.
Aki Matsunaga, UX/UI designer and Product designer at UX-Republic
