Published Paper Details:

Modern web applications increasingly underpin critical services in domains such as healthcare, finance, and education, where both accessibility and security are essential to ensure equitable access and data protection. Despite the growing emphasis on inclusive digital design and cybersecurity, accessibility compliance and security vulnerability mitigation are frequently addressed in isolation, resulting in fragmented implementations that may compromise usability, resilience, or trust. This research presents an integrated design and evaluation study conducted on a real-world healthcare web portal supporting appointment scheduling, patient record access, and clinician communication. The platform was developed using a contemporary full-stack architecture and served a heterogeneous user population, including elderly individuals and users with visual or motor impairments, while simultaneously handling sensitive personal health information. A comprehensive assessment combining automated tools, manual audits, and assistive-technology testing revealed multiple accessibility barriers alongside common security weaknesses typical of modern JavaScript-based web applications. These included insufficient semantic markup, inadequate keyboard navigation support, insecure client-side token handling, and exposure to injection-based attacks. To address these challenges, an integrated framework was implemented that aligned Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA principles with established web security best practices derived from the OWASP Top 10. The redesigned system incorporated accessible interface components, secure authentication mechanisms, hardened middleware controls, and user-centric error handling that preserved both security and usability. Post-implementation evaluation demonstrated substantial improvements across both dimensions. Accessibility compliance scores increased markedly, with significant reductions in screen-reader navigation errors and keyboard interaction failures. Concurrently, security testing indicated a pronounced decrease in exploitable vulnerabilities, with no critical risks remaining following deployment. Importantly, these enhancements were achieved without notable performance degradation or adverse impacts on user experience. The findings highlight that accessibility and security are mutually reinforcing attributes of high-quality web systems and can be effectively integrated through deliberate, early-stage design choices. This study provides practical evidence that unified accessibility-security strategies are feasible, scalable, and particularly vital for web applications operating in sensitive, high-impact domains.