Accessibility Testing, Optimization, and Validation
Most accessibility problems are found after launch — during a compliance audit or a procurement review (or a lawsuit). We find them before any of that happens, and we fix them in a way that holds up under manual review with real assistive technologies.
Overview
Our principals and staff are DHS Trusted Tester™ certified — the federal government’s standard for Section 508 conformance testing. We have implemented WCAG and Section 508 on public sector and enterprise websites since the mid-2000s, and our staff’s accessibility compliant designs have received industry awards from the FWA, AIVA, and the Croatian Designers Society.
Standards We Test and Validate Against
- WCAG 2.2 Level A / AA / AAA
- Section 508 (U.S. federal)
- ADA Title II (U.S. state and local government)
- AB 434 (California state websites)
- EAA — European Accessibility Act
- EN 301 549 (European procurement)
How We Work
Accessibility testing and optimization is most cost-effective when it is embedded in the design and development process rather than appended at the end. We offer it both ways.
- Expert review and audit.
- We conduct a review of your website or application using automated tools combined with keyboard-only navigation and assistive technology testing. We document every issue with its WCAG success criterion, severity rating, and a plain-English description of what is broken and for whom.
- Remediation and optimization.
- We fix identified issues in your codebase or provide your development team with annotated, actionable specifications. We do not hand over a spreadsheet of violations that require an expert translator.
- Validation and VPAT reporting.
- We validate remediated work and produce a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) — the conformance report that may be used to create Accessibility Conformance Report.
- Embedded in new builds.
- When we design and build new solutions, accessibility is engineered in from the start. We scope semantic HTML, keyboard-accessible interactions, high-contrast, scalable typography, meaningful alternative text, and assistive technology optimizations as implicit requirements.
A Note on Accessibility Overlays
Automated accessibility widgets added to an existing non-compliant website suppress some automated scan findings, but they don’t necessarily bring a site into conformance with WCAG 2.2 AA or Section 508. If your organization is relying on an overlay as its compliance strategy, we can help you understand the compliance gaps (if any).
Pricing
A standalone accessibility audit starts at $12,000 and includes manual testing with assistive technology, a prioritized issue report with remediation guidance, and a VPAT conformance report. Scope varies by site size and complexity.
Accessibility audits embedded within a full design and development engagement are scoped as a named task within that project, not billed separately.
Who This is For
If your organization is subject to AB 434, ADA Title II, Section 508, or the EAA — or if your procurement process requires a VPAT — we can help you meet that requirement and keep it up to date.
Accessibility and visual quality are not competing requirements. California state agency websites our staff designed, including a state emergency services agency, a state utility commission, and the statewide higher education system — achieved both WCAG compliance and national design awards. Signed AB 434 certifications are publicly available on each website.
Our lastest end-to-end product example: the Program Pathways Mapper for California’s 116 community colleges achieved a 100/100/100/100 Google Lighthouse score for performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO — and was manually validated against WCAG 2.2 AA with assistive technology before launch.