The Events Accessibility Gap No One Is Talking About (Yet)
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The live events industry prides itself on innovation. Each year, new platforms promise deeper engagement, smarter data and more immersive experiences. Yet amid all this progress, one critical element continues to be overlooked: accessibility.
Despite increased awareness and clear legal direction, accessibility is still too often treated as an afterthought. It is something added late in the planning process, or addressed only when a request is made. That gap between what is possible and what is delivered is becoming increasingly visible, and increasingly problematic.
As Orla Pearson, Founder of MyClearText and Co-Founder of AccessLOOP, puts it:
“The difference between events that bolt on accessibility at the last minute and those that design it in from the start is night and day.”
Why accessibility still gets overlooked
Accessibility often sits in an uncomfortable space within event planning. It is framed as a compliance issue, a risk to manage or a cost to absorb, rather than as a core part of event infrastructure. In conversations about event technology, it rarely receives the same attention as audio, video or staging.
This perception is rooted in misunderstanding. Accessibility is still widely seen as serving a small minority, when in reality it affects a much broader audience. Hearing loss, neurodiversity, language barriers, noisy environments and cognitive overload are all common at live events. When accessibility is missing, information is missed and engagement suffers.
Audiences are becoming more diverse, but many event technology stacks are still designed for a narrow definition of who an event is for.
Why technology alone is not enough
AI-driven tools have expanded what is possible in accessibility, particularly in live captioning and translation. Used thoughtfully, they offer scale and flexibility. Used without oversight, they can introduce new barriers.