Accessibility Doesn't Start With an Audit

Most teams approach accessibility like it's a final boss fight. You build the entire product first, then someone says "we need to be WCAG compliant" and suddenly you're staring at a 47-page audit report wondering where to even start.
That's backwards, but it's also fixable without rebuilding everything.
Start with the three things that solve about 80% of common violations.
First, color contrast - if your text is hard to read, bump up the contrast ratio. There are free browser extensions that check this in real time.
Second, keyboard navigation - can someone tab through your interface and actually use it? Try it yourself. Most designers never do.
Third, alt text for images - screen readers need to know what's in that hero image or product photo.
These aren't the only accessibility requirements, but they're the ones you can fix today that immediately help real people use your product. You don't need to become a WCAG expert or hire a specialist to get started. You just need to make these three things standard practice every time you design something new.
Accessibility feels overwhelming when you treat it like a checkbox at the end. Move it to the beginning of your process - even just these three things - and it stops being a compliance nightmare. It just becomes how you design.