What Does It Take to Comply With Digital Accessibility Legislation?

The Compliance Minefield 

With the legal threat rising, compliance with digital accessibility legislation is a pressing concern for many organizations.  

Compliance is simply meeting the relevant legal requirements. But that’s where the simplicity ends. You may need to comply with multiple state-level, federal-level and international legal frameworks. And all laws are subject to interpretation and revision, which makes it tricky to understand what you need to do. 

WCAG — Not a Silver Bullet 

Most legal codes worldwide have adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the technical benchmark for digital accessibility. However, conforming with WCAG doesn’t automatically deliver legal compliance.  

WCAG doesn’t even produce a “score” for conformance. And while you could measure your compliance percentage, that would be meaningless, as some guidelines have far more real-world impact on accessibility than others.  

In any case, technology is not a silver bullet for compliance. You can detect and resolve some accessibility problems automatically, but many others require human insight to recognize and remediate. Plaintiffs and courts are interested more in the practical usability of websites than in whether a site technically conforms.  

Compliance is also a moving target: WCAG is continually updated, as is your web content. Ensuring accessibility is therefore an ongoing process. 

Best Practices 

A best-practice strategy for digital accessibility compliance should encompass:  

• Substantial ongoing conformance to WCAG 

• Regular website audits by accessibility experts 

• Comprehensive remediation plans for dealing with identified shortcomings 

• Clear feedback and grievance procedures for website visitors  

• Internal accessibility training and tooling