Accessible Site Certification

If your site has need for a meaningful accessibility statement or must comply with federal or other legal accessibility guidelines, then our accessible site certification service can help you ensure that you are meeting these accessibility guidelines and will do so into the future.

What is Site Certification?

There are four steps to site certification:

1. WebAIM will conduct a comprehensive audit of your site.
2. Based on your preference, we will either report on or repair all accessibility barriers on the site.
3. Once our strict accessibility requirements are met, we can certify the accessibility of your site to a pre-determined standard.
4. We can then monitor your site to ensure accessibility over time.

Why Would I Want Certification?

There are several reasons why you might want WebAIM to certify the accessibility of your site:

• You may have a received funding from the federal government that requires that your materials adhere to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. WebAIM can ensure that you have in fact met this requirement.
• You may be creating a service or application that you would like to market to the federal government. If you can guarantee that your product conforms with Section 508, you will have an advantage over other similar products and services that do not meet this standard.
• You want to confidently proclaim that your site has an accessible web presence and has been certified by a recognized leader in web accessibility.

Is Certification a One-time or an Ongoing Process?

WebAIM can offer either, depending on the needs of your organization. If you are creating content that is unlikely to change over time, a one-time certification might be sufficient. In this case, we will usually provide you with a document stating that WebAIM certified the accessibility of your site on a certain date.

If your site is updated regularly, you would probably need regular re-certification on the content of the site. The frequency and comprehensiveness of each re-certification will vary based on your needs. These follow up checks are usually less extensive than the original certification. When certification is ongoing, WebAIM will usually host a page showing the current level of accessibility of the site as well as the date of the next scheduled re-evaluation.

What Standard Do You Use When Certifying a Site?

The standard can vary depending on your needs. If your group is either part of or does business with the US federal government, than you must certify that your site conforms with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Many other countries or states in the U.S. have laws regarding accessibility. If you are more concerned with the overall accessibility, then you may consider site certification based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WebAIM can even help you devise your own accessibility standard and/or policy to which we can help you attain and certify compliance with that standard or policy.

What if a Certified Site Starts to Have Accessibility Problems?

WebAIM will notify the client and work to help a company maintain their certified status. If a company is unable or unwilling to conform with the certified level of accessibility, it will expire or be revoked. If we did not take this precaution, it could undermine the value of the certification process. This service comes with the backing of WebAIM, who will assist you in ensuring that your site not only is technically accessible, but also accessible to your site visitors with disabilities.