Introduction
With the growing importance of digital accessibility, accessibility vendors play a crucial role in ensuring websites, mobile apps, and digital products are usable for everyone, including people with disabilities. These vendors offer comprehensive accessibility testing services, identifying and resolving issues that hinder digital access. Their expertise is rooted in standards like WCAG 2.2, Section 508, and ADA compliance, which are essential for building inclusive digital platforms.
In this article, we’ll explore the various roles and responsibilities of accessibility vendors, the processes they follow, and how they contribute to creating a more accessible digital world.
Table of Contents
Why Accessibility Testing is Important
Before delving into the responsibilities of accessibility vendors, it is crucial to understand why accessibility testing is essential. Accessibility testing ensures that people with disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, and cognitive impairments, can access and interact with digital content. This type of testing identifies issues such as:
- Websites not being keyboard navigable.
- Lack of appropriate text descriptions for images (alt text).
- Inadequate color contrast.
- Unlabeled buttons and form fields.
These issues not only prevent a large segment of users from engaging with online content but also make organizations legally vulnerable to lawsuits for non-compliance with accessibility standards.
The Role of Accessibility Vendors in Accessibility Testing
Accessibility vendors provide a variety of services aimed at making digital platforms accessible. They bring in specialized tools, techniques, and expertise to ensure compliance with relevant accessibility standards. Let’s break down their core responsibilities.
1. Initial Accessibility Audit
One of the primary responsibilities of accessibility vendors is conducting an initial audit of the website, mobile app, or other digital assets. This audit helps in identifying the existing accessibility issues and determining how closely the product aligns with WCAG guidelines.
- Manual Testing: The vendors often conduct manual accessibility testing, which is crucial in identifying complex issues that automated tools might miss. They use screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver to ensure that users who rely on these assistive technologies can access the content.
- Automated Testing: Accessibility vendors utilize automated testing tools to quickly scan websites for common accessibility errors. These tools can highlight issues like missing alt text, improper heading structure, and color contrast issues.
2. Providing Detailed Reports
After completing the initial audit, accessibility vendors create comprehensive reports that outline the issues they’ve found. These reports are essential as they:
- Provide detailed descriptions of the problems.
- Suggest fixes for the identified issues.
- Include screenshots or videos where necessary to highlight specific accessibility barriers.
These reports serve as a roadmap for developers and designers, guiding them in making the necessary improvements to the digital platform.
3. Compliance with Legal Standards
Another critical responsibility of accessibility vendors is ensuring that the digital platform complies with relevant legal standards. In many countries, there are legal frameworks like Section 508 in the United States, or the European Union’s EN 301 549, that mandate digital accessibility.
Vendors help organizations understand these laws and ensure that their websites or apps comply with the necessary regulations to avoid legal repercussions. Compliance is not just about avoiding lawsuits but about enhancing inclusivity and providing a better user experience for all.
4. Remediation and Recommendations
Once the accessibility audit is complete and issues have been identified, accessibility vendors work closely with developers to recommend specific remediation strategies. Their recommendations include:
- How to make images accessible through alt text.
- Ensuring forms are properly labeled and navigable using a keyboard.
- Adjusting the color contrast to make text readable for users with visual impairments.
Some vendors also assist in the remediation process, providing code-level recommendations or even hands-on coding support to fix identified issues.
5. Assistive Technology Testing
Accessibility vendors also perform testing using various assistive technologies to ensure compatibility with screen readers, speech recognition software, and other tools used by people with disabilities. These technologies include:
- Screen Readers: Tools like JAWS and NVDA read out the contents of a webpage for visually impaired users.
- Voice Recognition: Technologies such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking allow users with motor disabilities to navigate websites and apps through voice commands.
- Magnification Software: Software that magnifies portions of the screen for users with low vision.
Testing with these technologies ensures that all types of users can access and interact with the digital content, no matter their abilities.
6. Ongoing Monitoring and Maintenance
Accessibility is not a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing process. Websites and digital platforms are dynamic, with content and features being updated regularly. Accessibility vendors often provide ongoing monitoring services to ensure that new content or features remain accessible as the platform evolves.
They may set up automated systems that regularly scan the website or app for accessibility issues, or they might schedule periodic manual reviews to ensure compliance with the latest accessibility standards and guidelines.
7. User Testing with People with Disabilities
In some cases, accessibility vendors engage real users with disabilities to perform user testing. This hands-on approach provides insights that automated and manual testing tools can’t capture. For instance, a blind user navigating a site with a screen reader may encounter unique challenges that even the most comprehensive manual testing would miss.
This type of user feedback is invaluable as it provides a real-world perspective on how well the platform serves its intended audience. It also highlights any specific usability issues that need to be addressed.
8. Training and Consultation
Accessibility vendors often offer training and consultation services to help organizations integrate accessibility best practices into their development processes. This training may include:
- Accessibility Workshops: Educating teams on the principles of digital accessibility and demonstrating how to implement them.
- Technical Training: Teaching developers and designers how to code and design with accessibility in mind, ensuring they are familiar with WCAG guidelines and best practices.
Consultation services help organizations adopt a proactive approach to accessibility by integrating it into the early stages of product development.
9. Accessibility Documentation
Accessibility vendors also play a role in creating accessibility documentation, including Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) or Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs). These documents are often required for business contracts and provide a clear overview of how accessible a product is and the steps taken to achieve compliance.
Organizations use these documents to demonstrate their commitment to accessibility and to inform users about the level of accessibility they can expect from a given platform or product.
Benefits of Hiring Accessibility Vendors
Hiring an accessibility vendor brings numerous benefits:
- Expertise: Vendors have the specialized knowledge needed to identify and address accessibility barriers.
- Compliance: They ensure legal compliance with international and local accessibility standards.
- Time and Cost Savings: By outsourcing accessibility testing, companies can focus on their core competencies while ensuring their digital products are accessible to all.
- Improved User Experience: An accessible platform offers a better experience for all users, not just those with disabilities.
Conclusion
Accessibility vendors play a vital role in making digital spaces inclusive by offering a wide range of testing services and expert guidance. From initial audits to user testing, assistive technology evaluations, and ongoing monitoring, these vendors ensure that digital products are usable by everyone. By partnering with accessibility vendors, organizations can achieve legal compliance, improve user experience, and contribute to a more inclusive digital environment.
Ultimately, the work done by accessibility vendors helps bridge the gap between technology and inclusivity, ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can engage with digital content seamlessly.
We Offer Web & Mobile Accessibility Testing
We at ‘Accessible Zone‘ provide web, mobile and software accessibility testing services. We perform testing manually using screen reader such as JAWS, NVDA & Voiceovers. We also provide VPAT and ACR reports. If you want to use our services do contact us as at contact@accessiblezone.com or you can also schedule a free call with us from here.