Section 508 Compliance Testing: Options & Strategies

Under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, organizations that receive federal funding — or businesses that contract with them — must provide accessible information and communication technology (ICT) to individuals with disabilities. This includes content on websites, software, electronic documents (e.g., Word documents or PDFs), and mobile apps. The requirement also extends to contractors or vendors working with federal agencies.

If any of this applies to your organization, you need to have a Section 508 compliance strategy in place. However, because Section 508 includes such a broad range of entities, it’s crucial to understand the accessibility requirements included in the act and create and implement compliance measures. 

Below, we’ll outline key factors to consider when building a strategy for Section 508 compliance, including the need for hybrid testing and expert legal support. We’ll also discuss the role technology plays in helping you detect and fix accessibility issues.

A list of communication types that must be compliant under Section 508, including PDFs, emails, mobile apps, online training programs, public-facing webpages, and word documents

What is Section 508?

Before we jump into what Section 508 is, a quick history lesson.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first federal law to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. It was a landmark legislation, and thanks to regular updates, it remains one of the most important U.S. accessibility laws. 

In 1998, the U.S. Congress amended the law to include Section 508, which requires federal agencies to make electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities. The revised 508 standards ensure the disability community can access and use any information or technology developed or used by the federal government. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act extends those requirements to recipients of federal assistance, including most state and municipal agencies (and all federal contractors).

Put simply, your electronic communication must be accessible if your organization does business with the U.S. government or receives federal funding or assistance. That applies to various types of content, including but not limited to:

• Public-facing websites, web pages, and mobile apps

• Internal and external emails

• PDFs and other digital documents

• Digital training resources

• Job application pages

To keep your digital content and communications accessible, you need to evaluate all your digital content and fix issues that could affect people with disabilities or impairments, including those using screen readers and other assistive technologies.

For digital content to be considered accessible, Section 508 mandates that organizations must meet all the criteria included in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. WCAG addresses many common issues that affect people with disabilities, including missing alt text (also called alternative text), keyboard accessibility issues, missing video captions, low-contrast text, and lack of assistive technology compatibility. 

Why is Section 508 Compliance for Websites Important?

Section 508 was designed to ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal access to government information. 

Beyond ensuring equal access, Section 508 is a legal requirement for federal agencies or organizations receiving federal funding. Failing to comply can result in legal consequences, which we’ll cover in more detail below.

Additional benefits of Section 508 compliance include:

• Enhanced usability: Many accessibility features, like text-to-speech or keyboard navigation, improve a website's overall usability. Adding these features gives users, including those without disabilities, more ways to interact with content.

• Broader audience reach: When a site is designed to be more accessible, it can cater to more users. For example, those who rely on assistive technologies to interact with digital content can do so on your site if it’s designed to be accessible.

• Increases SEO rankings: Search engines favor sites that are more accessible as they’re easier to crawl and rank appropriately. By following accessibility best practices, you can increase your SEO rankings and get your content in front of more users. 

Section 508 Compliance Requirements 

As mentioned above, to comply with Section 508, your digital content must follow WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards — that’s the technical benchmark for accessibility. This includes all EIT used by federal agencies, including websites, mobile apps, PDFs, software, and any other digital content developed, procured, maintained, or used by the federal government.

More simply, if you’re building digital tools for a federal audience — or if you’re a contractor or vendor who supplies digital content to them — your content needs to work for everyone, including people who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, keyboard navigation, or alternative input devices.

The Foundation: POUR and WCAG

WCAG is based on four key accessibility principles, usually referred to as POUR:

• Perceivable: Content must be presented in ways users can perceive. That includes providing text alternatives for images, captions for video, and using sufficient color contrast.

• Operable: All functionality must be available via keyboard and easy to navigate. Think clear focus indicators, logical tab order, and no traps that prevent users from moving through content.

• Understandable: Content and interface behavior should be clear, consistent, and predictable. Instructions should make sense, error messages should be helpful, and content should be readable.

• Robust: Digital experiences should work across a wide range of devices and assistive devices, now and in the future. 

These principles form the backbone of the WCAG guidelines — and by extension, what’s required for Section 508 compliance.

For a deeper dive into accessible web design best practices, check out AudioEye’s Guide to Accessible Web Design.

Who Needs to Comply — and Who Enforces It

Section 508 applies to all federal agencies and any organization that does business with them. That includes contractors, software vendors, consultants, and institutions like public universities or nonprofits that receive federal funding. If you’re creating or supplying digital tools to the government, you’re expected to meet these standards.

The U.S. Access Board is responsible for developing and maintaining the technical standards for Section 508. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) handles enforcement. Individuals can file complaints if federal digital content isn’t accessible, and those complaints can lead to investigations or legal action. 

The bottom line: Section 508 is about ensuring equal access to digital information — and if you’re working with or for the federal government, accessibility isn’t optional.

A web browser with a number of icons indicating accessibility issues. In the bottom-right corner, there is an accessibility icon in the center of a pie chart

Consequences of Non-Compliance with Section 508

Failing to comply with Section 508 can result in legal consequences such as lawsuits, demand letters, or settlements. Defending against non-compliance claims can get expensive, both in terms of legal costs and loss of productivity. Organizations that receive federal funding may jeopardize their eligibility for current or future federal funding, further impacting their financial stability. 

In addition to legal consequences, non-compliance can harm your business’s reputation. Suppose the public sees your company as one that is not accessible or respectful of individuals with disabilities. In that case, it can seriously damage your relationship not just with the public but with clients and partners as well. 

Here’s the good news: There are ways to avoid these risks: working with an accessibility partner like AudioEye. AudioEye Assurance and Expert Legal Support is designed to give you peace of mind. Working with our team of accessibility experts and members of the disability community, we conduct in-depth audits of your site to identify potential WCAG violations and create custom fixes for these issues. The result: the highest level of protection in the industry — one that’s 400% better than consulting or automation-only approaches. 

AudioEye also offers legal support in the event you receive a demand letter alleging non-compliance. We’ll carefully analyze the claim for validity and respond line-by-line to each claim, helping you resolve the matter quickly. We’ve successfully debunked non-compliance legal claims for dozens of companies. Check out how we did it with Babylon Marine and Explore Utah Valley.

How Section 508 Compliance Testing Works

To avoid the consequences of non-compliance, it’s critical to test all your digital content against accessibility standards. Fortunately, you have a few options for Section 508 compliance testing.

Automated Testing

Most organizations choose to start the accessibility testing process with automated tools like Section 508 compliance software. These accessibility testing tools will test your digital content against the WCAG success criterion and identify potential issues that might prevent people with disabilities from understanding or operating your website. Some compliance software can even apply fixes for specific accessibility issues in real time, streamlining the path to compliance.

AudioEye’s free Web Accessibility Scanner, for instance, can detect 32 WCAG violations — more than any other tool on the market — giving you a clear starting point for enhancing accessibility. AudioEye goes a step further by applying automatic fixes for common errors in real-time, streamlining your path to compliance. For example, many websites use HTML heading elements in an incorrect order, which can confuse screen reader users. Our Web Accessibility Scanner can identify this issue and our Automated Fixes can automatically fix it, providing a better user experience.

Manual Testing

As the name suggests, manual testing is usually performed by trusted testers who carefully review your digital content for WCAG conformance. One of the biggest benefits of manual testing is that the approach can identify accessibility issues that software alone can’t detect.

For example, AudioEye’s Expert Audits are conducted by accessibility experts and members of the disability community. They perform an in-depth audit of your digital content to detect more complex accessibility issues, such as the quality of alt text or how easy it is to navigate content using a screen reader.

Hybrid Testing

With automated testing unable to identify every accessibility issue and expert testing being a time-consuming process, we recommend taking a hybrid approach to Section 508 compliance testing. 

Hybrid accessibility testing combines both automated and manual testing methods, giving you a more comprehensive approach to Section 508 compliance. Using automated or free accessibility checkers can help you identify common accessibility issues — like missing alt text or structural inconsistencies — and give you a broad overview of your current accessibility. However, automated tools can only identify specific accessibility issues. More complex issues, like seamless keyboard navigation or the quality of subtitles, require human testing. 

Put simply, a hybrid approach to Section 508 compliance testing gives you a more thorough assessment of how accessible and compliant your digital content is. Additionally, it helps you address a wider range of accessibility issues and create a more accessible digital environment.

A web browser with a number of green checkmarks indicating resolved accessibility issues

Ensuring Section 508 Compliance with AudioEye

Section 508 compliance testing can seem complex — but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right tools and support, detecting and fixing issues becomes a manageable, repeatable process — one that not only reduces legal risk but also improves the experience for all users. Whether you’re just getting started or refining your approach, building accessibility into your digital workflows is easier — and more affordable — than you think with AudioEye.

With AudioEye’s three-pronged approach to accessibility — which combines automation and human-assisted AI technology for the perfect hybrid approach — you can create a compliance strategy that’s more effective than traditional approaches. From our Web Accessibility Scanner, which finds 32 WCAG violations, to our Expert Audits that detect and fix more complex accessibility issues, AudioEye helps you achieve industry-leading compliance with accessibility standards. 

Ready to build a path to Section 508 compliance? Get started with a free accessibility scan.

Want to learn more about how AudioEye provides up to 400% more protection than consulting or automation-only approaches? Talk to an expert now.