WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Question about Accessibility plugins

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From: Scott Tate
Date: Jun 7, 2019 12:15PM

I wouldn't necessarily say the fines are over stated. From our view (Blndspt.com) we see settlements between 20 and 50k regularly. Some folks tend to ratchet that up a bit depending on the target client.

However, let me give you a quick example of overlays:

We built a quote for a client to remediate an entire site for x dollars. 3 years ago, they got quotes for the same thing. At the time, they decided the price was too high to fix their 100+ pages and decided to go the overlay route. As everyone out there does, 3 years later, they've been paying for the overlay annual fees, and guess how much they've spent in 3 years? You guessed it, MORE THAN X!

As a result, they are no farther along, have literally learning nothing about accessibility, are in the same position they were in 3 years ago having spent that budget on a band aid instead of fixing the problem. From our view, the vast majority of folks that use overlays generally:
1) Spend the amount they would have spent to fix the problem within 24 months (or less)
2) Never learn what it means to build a culture of accessibility in your organization
3) Never end up fixing root issues
4) End up spending the same amount again anyway a few years down the road to finally fix the issues.

Just our perspective. We work with Karl a lot, so we read all of the overlay articles, and we wholeheartedly agree that overlays are making the problem worse in the world.

Cheers,
Scott Tate
Chief Information Officer
http://www.blndspt.com/accessibility