There are a number of ways to demonstrate that your website or other digital asset is accessible:
- Conformance Statement (must follow W3C’s 5 rules)
- Provider Certification (from a reputable company, not an overlay / widget seller)
- Recorded user testing session (the best evidence possible)
- User testing attestation
- VPAT / ACR (not for traditiona websites, but ICT products or services)
We write this in light of a recent Seyfarth Show blog post that highlighted the dismissal of a website accessibility case as “moot” by a New York due to the defendant’s evidence that “commercially reasonable” steps to make its website accessible were taken.
| Key Point | What It Means for You |
|---|---|
| WCAG Audit | The starting point for all accessibility documentation. A qualified technical expert evaluates your site against WCAG criteria and produces an audit report, which is the precursor to remediation. |
| Validation | Confirms that remediated issues were actually fixed. Without validation, an audit is just a snapshot. With it, you have a traceable before-and-after record. Fixes can be tracked inside the Accessibility Tracker platform. |
| Progress Reports | Not as compelling as validation, but useful supporting evidence, particularly between milestones. Accessibility Tracker lets you maintain remediation records, generate progress reports at any time, and track scanning results across different dates. |
| Conformance Statement | A document, best issued by a reputable digital accessibility company, stating your digital asset is fully conformant. Credibility depends on the issuer and whether W3C’s five required elements are present. |
| Provider Certification | Documentation from an independent firm confirming a qualified expert evaluated your asset. Independence matters. Certifications from overlay or widget vendors carry little weight. |
| Recorded User Testing Session | The strongest evidence available. A screen-recorded session of a professional with a disability successfully navigating your digital asset. Demonstrates accessibility in a way no written report can. Best conducted after validation. |
| User Testing Attestation | A written complement to the recorded session documenting the tester, date, assistive technology used, and findings. Together, the recording and attestation form a complete user testing record. |
| VPAT / ACR | The standard format for ICT products in federal procurement. Not right for traditional websites, but increasingly essential for software, platforms, and technology products. |
| Accessibility Policy | Shows your accessibility commitment predates any complaint. Recommended for all organizations. Can support a motion to dismiss by demonstrating a process for ensuring accessibility was already in place. |
This New York decision is worth paying attention to. The defendant was able to show a documented relationship with an accessibility consultant, audit findings, remediation records, and a plan for ongoing work. That evidence made a real difference.
Building that kind of record is good practice regardless of whether litigation is ever on your radar. Here is exactly how you can build documentation that demonstrates evidence of accessibility.
WCAG Audit
This is where everything starts. A qualified technical accessibility expert evaluates your website against WCAG criteria and documents what they find in an audit report. Without an audit, you have no verified baseline. With one, you have evidence of accessibility issues identified which is the precursor to fixing issues.
The fix or remediation is essential, but the audit is the start.
Validation
After issues are remediated, validation confirms the fixes actually worked. This step is easy to skip and often is, but it is what turns an audit into a traceable before-and-after record. Finding barriers is of minimal value if you cannot show they were resolved.
You can track and record audit report fixes inside of the Accessibility Tracker platform.
Conformance Statement
This is a document, best issued by a reputable digital accessibility company, that states your digital asset is fully conformant. To carry any credibility it needs to follow W3C’s five required elements.
The document’s detail and issuer are crucial.
Provider Certification
Documentation from an independent accessibility firm showing a qualified, independent expert evaluated your asset. Independence matters here. A certification from an overlay or widget vendor carries little weight.
Provider certification is distinct from a conformance statement, but largely redundant.
Recorded User Testing Session
The strongest evidence you can have. Here you have a screen recorded session of a professional with a disability, optimally, successfully able to navigate your digital asset, access content, and use the functionality. This video demonstrates accessibility in a way no written report can. We have helped many clients with user testing.
User Testing Attestation
Our user testing attestation comes with the recorded session as the perfect complement. Written attestation documents the details surrounding the user testing including the issuing company, tester, date, what assistive technology was used, and what the findings from the session were.
Note that user testing services are best conducted after validation has occurred (otherwise the session will document accessibility issues).
VPAT / ACR
The standard documentation format for ICT products and services, particularly in federal procurement. If you sell software, platforms, or technology, this is what buyers are going to ask for. VPATs are not for traditional websites, but quickly becoming essential for ICT products and services.
Progress Reports
Although not as compelling, progress reports showing genuine improvement can also provide supporting evidence. This can be particularly helpful when used to demonstrate genuine action in between milestones.
Our Accessibility Tracker platform enables digital asset owners to maintain records of issue remediation progress and validation, generate progress reports at any time, and showing scanning results across different scan dates over time.
Accessibility Policy
A policy does something the other documents cannot: it shows your commitment to accessibility predates any complaint. We always recommend having an accessibility in place — even as a small business — because it can help support a motion to dismiss by showing there’s a process in place to ensure accessibility
Next Steps
The more documentation you have, the more evidence you can use to defend any litigation or compliance questioning from a position of strength.
Of course what’s key is not necessarily the documentation, but the underlying work and investment the documentation represents. If you need help with building up your evidence of accessibility and compliance, we are happy to help. Just contact us and we’ll be with you right away.
