In terms of revenue, we’re nowhere close to some of the enterprise accessibility companies, but when it comes to transparency, we’re the market leader.
When most clients come to us, there’s one common objective: full conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for their digital asset. Most of the time, WCAG 2.1 AA is their chosen standard, but some clients opt for WCAG 2.2 AA. And every now and then we’ll have a client with WCAG 2.0 AA as their standard.
Either way, to make your digital asset fully conformant, you need professional services that are fully manual — there is no way around this. With this in mind, here are the secrets Big Accessibility Co. hides behind closed doors.
| Service/Claim | What They Promise | The Reality |
|---|---|---|
| Automated Remediation | AI-powered overlays make your site WCAG conformant | No automation can achieve WCAG conformance. Overlays only add superficial adjustments without fixing fundamental issues |
| Automated Scans | Comprehensive accessibility testing | Only catch limited issues with many partial or inconclusive flags. Free tools like WAVE and AXE provide 95% of the value |
| Scan-Based Platforms | 100% scan score equals WCAG conformance | Scan scores are near worthless for actual WCAG conformance |
| Combined Testing | Automated + manual testing provides full audit | Combining scan results with screen reader testing alone is professional malfeasance |
| Combined Remediation | Fix some issues manually, use widgets for the rest | Cannot reach WCAG 2.1 AA conformance with this approach |
Automated Remediation
There’s no such thing as automated remediation. Any such intimation leads straight to an overlay widget and overlay widgets only render superficial adjustments (that may or may not be correct) that lay over your website or web app. Hence the term overlay. There is no widget that makes your website WCAG conformant because no type of overlay fundamentally fixes your website.
Overlay widgets are such a problem in accessibility, there’s a website called OverlayFactSheet.com that explains why they don’t work and why they are bad for accessibility. Nearly 1,000 accessibility professionals have signed Overlay Fact Sheet to state they will never promote or recommend overlays.
So, again, there’s no such thing as automated remediation.
Not even with the best AI in 2025.
Automated Scans
Automated scans are extremely limited in the accessibility issues they correctly flag — and many of the flagged issues are only partial or inconclusive flags. This means that scans are at best a limited, quick review of accessibility.
We’re not saying there isn’t value in a scan, but the value is greatly exaggerated to many buyers. Because buyers are after full WCAG conformance and scans don’t come anywhere close to checking all accessibility issues.
This means even if we have access to the best scan in the universe (which perfectly good scans like WAVE and AXE are completely free to use), we still need a fully manual WCAG audit.
And what that means is paying for access to platforms that are scan-based (giving you issues from scans) are skewed to the point of being near worthless for most buyers; what you need is WCAG conformance, not a 100% score on a scan.
Think of scans as being more useful for accessibility professionals rather than someone who needs to make their website WCAG 2.1 AA conformant. Scans are always a nice start, but we still need the manual audit.
Combined Testing
The formula of automated + manual doesn’t work for an audit (finding issues) or remediation (fixing issues). Some companies insinuate that you can combine “automated testing” (i.e., a scan) and “manual testing” or screen reader testing for the full effect of an audit.
Not so. The better way to think of it is you need a fully manual audit that identifies all of the accessibility issues in scope and then a scan can act as partial review on 10-12 issues.
If we were to combine scan results with screen reader testing results and call it a day, it would be professional malfeasance. While screen reader testing is a crucial part of auditing, it’s definitely not the only part. And clients aren’t paying us for scan results. They can get scan results for free.
And if the hybrid approach won’t work for finding issues, it definitely won’t work for fixing them.
So no, you can’t fix a few issues, slap a widget on the website to cover the rest, and say your website is fully WCAG 2.1 AA conformant.
Summary
The digital accessibility marketplace is a jungle so make sure you’re only purchasing the products and services that directly align with your objective: WCAG 2.1 AA conformance (or 2.2). Otherwise you’re wasting time and money.
