There are many digital accessibility companies who are happy to give their clients letters of endorsements and certificates that say nice things about the client efforts and their website’s state of accessibility.
You might read certificates with complimentary statements like:
- Client’s website is “substantially compliant” with WCAG 2.0 A and AA
- Client has made significant progress with their accessibility program
- Client’s mobile app is generally accessible to people with disabilities
There are many problems with the above type of certification language, but the one that stands out the most is these claims don’t really mean anything.
- What does substantially compliant mean?
- What is considered significant progress?
- What does generally accessible mean?
Compelling certification definitively and specifically sets forth an unambiguous and demonstrable claim. For example, something to the effect of:
“Website.com, for the scope defined below, is fully conformant with version 2.1 conformance level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).”
Notice how there’s no ambiguity or language that provides an out.
What often happens in certification scenarios is a loose pay-for-paper arrangement where the client pays a service fee and/or buys into a subscription or program and is then bestowed certification without meeting rigid requirements. There may be a veneer of requirements, but many digital accessibility companies acquiesce when clients push for the documentation.
And the thing is, if certification is loosely given out, it really doesn’t mean anything.
In the digital accessibility world, there is no official or regulatory agency who governs the issuance of certification so technically anybody can issue certification to anybody else. In turn, this means certification is only worth the issuer name and rigorous issuance standards behind the certificate.
If certification can be cajoled or the wording or issuance process can be finessed, the certification is near worthless.
This is, in part, why our certification process is regimented and strict: your website, for the defined scope, must be fully conformant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or we will not issue certification. It really is that simple.
Our expert technical auditors make the final determination.
Morever, you literally cannot buy our certification; it’s the result of our service(s). If we audit your website and it’s fully conformant, we’ll happily issue certification at no additional charge.
And if you want us to help you work towards certification, our technical auditors will review new fixes and let you know whether remediation was successful or not. And, if not, what you need to do to conform to the success criteria at issue.
And if there any sticking points whatsoever, we won’t issue certification.
It’s full conformance or nothing.
And that’s why our certification carries weight.
