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Re: Regarding VPAT and litigation

for

From: glen walker
Date: May 28, 2021 10:51AM

> Also, it should be noted that VPATs only apply to commercial
off-the-shelf products

Not necessarily. For a company that provides a service, such as HR or
payroll systems, and that service is incorporated into the company's
website, it's not technically an "off the shelf" product. It's an embedded
web app. But even if a company wants a VPAT for their public corporate
site, that's fine. There's nothing regulating what a VPAT is used for.

> I'm not sure what you meant when you stated that it was "filed." By whom
and to whom?

Most likely a language/translation issue. The VPAT wasn't "filed" but
rather was "filled out". If the VPAT was sent to the company's internal
legal team, they might have "filed" it with their other legal documents.

> This is why we tell our US clients to fix all the issues that automated
tools find, even if they do not affect the user experience

Unfortunately, Steve is accurate with that statement. It's a shame because
it puts resources on issues that often have low impact on the users. Time
would be better spent focusing on the important workflows first and then
work on the low priority issues. If you want the silver lining, fixing
issues found by scanning tools *does* address accessibility issues. It's
just that they often include low priority issues.

But as others have said, having an Accessibility Statement on the site is a
great thing.
https://www.w3.org/WAI/planning/statements/

Glen