I definitely know this pain (and glory) from experience and can relate. It all began when Ontario started enforcing AODA and the brand I was working with at the time had to be compliant due to their business operating in the province despite primarily being a U.S. company.
I've done enterprise-level a11y projects for major brands, and the problem isn't always understanding the WCAG Success Criteria or WAI-ARIA, it's the _how_ that gets you. Multiple times, I literally had IBM's a11y practice and that of another major accessibility vendor (both of whom were hired for validation of approach and certification of the product coming from my team) disagreeing on which UX direction actually fulfilled the Success Criteria. The grey area of accessibility integration is _vast_ and in many cases, outright subjective.
Oftentimes folks believe that just because you plunked ARIA roles and other a11y-specific best practices into a framework or design system, it actually works out to be a11y-compliant. While it gets you closer to the endgame, the complexity of the actual User Experience (e.g., running it through screen readers and other assistive devices, and not relying solely on static analysis like aXe or pa11y) is where the magic (and pain) actually happens. Accessible responsive patterns, contrast ratios, UX metaphors, affordances, etc.; all of that is yet another level of abstraction that'll keep a team with work for a very long time.
(For those that really specialize in a11y to the point of becoming a consultant, though, it's a very lucrative career path for the above reasons.)
I've done enterprise-level a11y projects for major brands, and the problem isn't always understanding the WCAG Success Criteria or WAI-ARIA, it's the _how_ that gets you. Multiple times, I literally had IBM's a11y practice and that of another major accessibility vendor (both of whom were hired for validation of approach and certification of the product coming from my team) disagreeing on which UX direction actually fulfilled the Success Criteria. The grey area of accessibility integration is _vast_ and in many cases, outright subjective.
Oftentimes folks believe that just because you plunked ARIA roles and other a11y-specific best practices into a framework or design system, it actually works out to be a11y-compliant. While it gets you closer to the endgame, the complexity of the actual User Experience (e.g., running it through screen readers and other assistive devices, and not relying solely on static analysis like aXe or pa11y) is where the magic (and pain) actually happens. Accessible responsive patterns, contrast ratios, UX metaphors, affordances, etc.; all of that is yet another level of abstraction that'll keep a team with work for a very long time.
(For those that really specialize in a11y to the point of becoming a consultant, though, it's a very lucrative career path for the above reasons.)