— Website Accessibility · WCAG 2.1 AA · ADA-defensible
Most agencies treat accessibility as a last-minute audit. We treat it as a design constraint from day one — which is why our sites pass WCAG 2.1 AA without retrofits, and our clients don't get the demand letter. Real accessibility. Not overlay theater.
At a glance
— The landscape
For years, accessibility was treated as a "nice to have." That window is closed. Federal ADA filings targeting small-business websites have grown every year for a decade — and most targets are businesses under $5M in revenue.
Sources: UsableNet Year-End Report; Seyfarth Shaw ADA Title III Litigation Tracker.
— Four ways we help
One-hour scan of your top-5 pages. Plain-English summary of the biggest risks and a go/no-go on whether you need a full audit. Turnaround: 48 hours.
Page-by-page automated + manual testing (screen reader, keyboard, zoom, contrast, cognitive). Severity-ranked issue list. Legally defensible report you can point to.
We fix the issues — markup, semantics, contrast, forms, media captions, keyboard traps, skip links, ARIA. Prioritized by legal risk and user impact. Re-tested on completion.
Your team learns how to create accessible content going forward — images, PDFs, videos, social. Accessibility is ongoing, not one-and-done. Quarterly re-checks available.
— The overlay trap
You've seen the ads: "Make your site ADA-compliant in 2 minutes for $49/month." If it were that easy, accessibility wouldn't be a $100M lawsuit industry. Here's what actually happens with AccessiBe, UserWay, and similar overlay widgets.
Overlays inject scripts that attempt to modify the DOM at runtime. Your HTML, images, forms, and ARIA are still broken underneath. A screen-reader user opens your site and encounters the same problems.
Disability advocates — including the National Federation of the Blind — have publicly opposed overlays because they interfere with the assistive technology users already have configured.
Multiple federal cases have found overlays don't equal ADA compliance. The DOJ has never endorsed them. Plaintiffs' attorneys specifically target sites using overlays — they're easy wins.
You pay $49–$490/month forever for a widget that doesn't actually make you compliant. That same budget over two years covers a real audit and remediation that actually protects you.
— How we audit
We run axe-core, WAVE, and Lighthouse against every page. These catch about 30–40% of issues and give us a baseline — but automated testing alone is never enough.
We navigate every key flow with keyboard only, screen reader (VoiceOver & NVDA), 200% zoom, and high-contrast mode. This is where the real issues surface.
Alt text, video captions, PDF tags, color contrast, link text clarity, form labels, error handling. The details that matter for real users.
Every issue documented with severity (A/AA/AAA), WCAG reference, screen capture, and recommended fix. No 80-page PDF. Just the list you need to act on.
— Case study
Nonprofit · Oregon
KEEP Fostering serves foster families — a community that includes real disabilities. Their previous site had a Lighthouse accessibility score of 61 and failed 23 WCAG 2.1 AA checks.
Approach
Instead of remediation, we rebuilt from scratch with WCAG 2.1 AA as a design constraint. Semantic HTML, keyboard-first navigation, screen-reader testing at every milestone, accessible forms, real alt text.
Outcome
Third-party WCAG 2.1 AA audit came back clean on first submission. Volunteer signups grew 61% in the first six months — because the people the nonprofit serves could finally navigate the site.
— Free resource
12 things to fix before you get the letter. Written for non-developers. Actionable on any platform — WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify.
— Frequently asked
No. Overlay widgets have been named in a rising wave of ADA lawsuits and often create new accessibility problems while claiming to solve them. The Department of Justice and disability advocacy groups have repeatedly stated that overlays do not equal compliance. Real accessibility happens at the code and design level.
Yes. ADA web-accessibility lawsuits hit a record in 2024 with over 4,600 federal filings, and small businesses are increasingly targeted because settlements are cheaper than defense. The simplest protection is a website that genuinely complies with WCAG 2.1 AA.
WCAG 2.1 AA is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1, level AA — the standard referenced by the Department of Justice as the benchmark for ADA web compliance. It covers perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust requirements across color contrast, keyboard navigation, screen-reader support, form labels, and more.
A Quick Review is a one-hour scan identifying the biggest issues and risk level. A full WCAG 2.1 AA audit is a comprehensive page-by-page test that documents every failure, assigns severity, and produces a prioritized remediation plan. Most clients start with a review to decide how much work is needed.
Small sites (10–15 pages) with moderate issues typically remediate in 2–4 weeks. Larger or deeply non-compliant sites can take 6–10 weeks. We prioritize the highest-risk issues first so you're legally defensible quickly, then continue refinement.
Yes. Many of our accessibility clients had their sites built elsewhere. We audit, prioritize, and remediate on almost any platform — WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, custom CMS. We also train your team to keep it compliant going forward.
Yes. We've worked alongside counsel on remediation for businesses actively defending ADA claims. We provide documentation, audit reports, and remediation logs that lawyers can use as part of a defense or settlement.
Not sure where you stand? We'll do a one-hour review and tell you the truth — no sales pressure, no scare tactics. $299 and 48-hour turnaround.