Accessibility is a design constraint
Not a checklist run at the end. A set of constraints at the start, which, like every good constraint, makes the design better rather than worse.
Almost every accessibility failure in a shipped product was a design decision made before any code existed. Grey-on-grey secondary text, a focus ring removed because it looked untidy, a 12px caption, colour as the only indicator of an error, an animation nobody can turn off. None of those are engineering defects, and none of them are cheap to fix afterwards.
As constraints they are unremarkable: 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text and UI boundaries; a visible focus indicator with 3:1 against its background; interactive targets around 44px; nothing conveyed by colour alone; motion that respects a system preference. Five rules, all of which can be checked while designing.
The design argument for taking them early is simply that they push in the direction of good work anyway. Real contrast produces clearer hierarchy. Larger targets produce calmer layouts. A visible focus state forces you to have designed one. The framing where accessibility is a tax on design is almost always a framing produced by leaving it until the end.
You should now be able to
- State the design constraints WCAG actually imposes
- Explain why an audit at the end is the expensive path
- Identify a design decision that is also an accessibility decision
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