Any vendor working with the government or any organization that receives government funding must understand with Section 508 VPATs. What s a VPAT? A VPAT is a Voluntary Accessibility Template. It is a form that documents your accessibility. Without it, and many organizations can't secure a contract or pursue an RFP. It can stop your business right in its tracks.
Free ConsultationEvery business should aim to get their websites and digital properties accessible, but 508 compliance is a necessity for many. In May of 1999, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), became the authoritative source on how to comply by developing the first set of digital accessibility guidelines. There are multiple degrees of compliance criteria and not every business must reach the highest standard. Where is your organization now?
Determining which level you need to achieve depends on various factors – let our accessibility experts help you determine what compliance criteria you should work toward.
To determine if your digital properties are Section 508 compliant, you will need to conduct a manual accessibility audit. An audit verifies the level of accessibility of your digital properties.
The good news? The revised Section 508 standards have been synched up to match the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. WCAG guidelines are now explicitly stated as the formal accessibility requirements. That simplifies things significantly.
To verify that your organization’s website is compliant with Section 508, you need to test in accordance with these popular, well-established guidelines.
Any sufficient, comprehensive testing plan must include both automated and manual testing. Automated tests can be helpful, but they can't catch everything or apply the same subjective judgments that human testers can. In fact, such automated tests only run at about a 30% accuracy rate and can flag false positives, which can further throw your test results out of whack. The best approach is to work with a trained human expert — a trusted tester — who will conduct both automated and manual testing.
Our accessibility team is composed of certified, professional, and skilled technicians who offer white glove support throughout your audit process. We pledge to not only help guide you through this process but also educate you and your team on accessibility along the way. We will get you prepared to maintain 508 compliance moving forward and ensure the creation of new accessible content.
It’s a federal law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in employment, programs, and activities. It covers any federal programs as well as any other programs that get federal funding. It includes multiple sections that provide for the civil rights of people with disabilities.Section 508 specifically set up requirements for electronic and information technology developed, maintained, procured or used by the federal government. It now requires WCAG 2.0 AA compliance for all information communication technologies (ICT) and three additional requirements related to synchronized media.