Accessibility is a build decision, not a plugin.
WCAG 2.1 AA audits, remediation, and ongoing monitoring for organizations that cannot afford to guess whether their website works for everyone.
Request an auditWhy this is moving now
In April 2024 the Department of Justice published a rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act naming WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for state and local government websites and mobile apps. In April 2026 the DOJ issued an interim final rule extending the compliance dates by one year.
- April 26, 2027 for public entities serving populations of 50,000 or more
- April 26, 2028 for public entities under 50,000 and special district governments
- The technical standard, WCAG 2.1 Level AA, did not change
- The Department of Health and Human Services set parallel dates for federally funded healthcare providers
We are a web studio, not a law firm, and none of this is legal advice. Whether a particular deadline applies to your organization depends on facts your attorney should evaluate. What we can tell you with certainty is what your website currently does and what it would take to meet the standard.
Who this is for
Public entities have a named standard and a dated deadline. Procurement language increasingly requires conformance from vendors as well.
Associations are governed entities publishing documents their owners are entitled to read. A document portal nobody can navigate with a screen reader defeats its own purpose.
Federally funded providers have their own parallel requirements, and patient-facing scheduling and intake are exactly the functions that fail accessibility testing.
If you subcontract to a public entity, conformance obligations tend to flow down to you through the contract.
What an audit includes
- Automated scanning across every template and page type
- Manual keyboard navigation and focus order testing
- Screen reader testing on actual assistive technology
- Color contrast measured and calculated, not estimated by eye
- Form labeling, error handling, and validation behavior
- Media alternatives: captions, transcripts, and alternative text quality
- Written report mapping each finding to its WCAG success criterion
- Severity ranking so you fix what matters first
Why us for this
Our own site is built to WCAG 2.1 AA. Contrast ratios were computed rather than eyeballed, and they hold at every state of the homepage’s changing color system. Keyboard focus is visible on every interactive element, motion respects the reduced motion preference, and the animated homepage degrades to a static, readable page for anyone who asks for that. Most studios bidding accessibility work cannot say the same about their own website. Ask them.
Questions we get
What standard do you build and audit to?
WCAG 2.1 Level AA. It is the standard named in the Department of Justice's Title II rule and in most procurement language we see, and it is what we build every site to by default, whether or not a client asks.
Does this apply to my organization?
That depends on what kind of entity you are and, for public entities, the population you serve. We can tell you what the rule says and what your site currently does. Whether a specific deadline binds you is a legal question, and your attorney should answer it. We will not tell you that you are or are not covered.
Can an overlay widget make my site compliant?
No. Overlay and accessibility widget products are widely criticized by disability advocates and have been named in litigation rather than preventing it. They sit on top of the problem instead of fixing it. We do not install them and we recommend removing them.
What does an audit actually produce?
A written report listing each issue, the WCAG success criterion it fails, where it occurs, its severity, and what the fix is. Written so a developer can act on it and a non-technical stakeholder can understand it. If you want, we do the remediation too, but the report stands on its own and you can hand it to anyone.
Do you use automated tools or manual testing?
Both, because automated tools catch roughly a third of issues. Keyboard navigation, focus order, screen reader behavior, and whether alternative text is actually useful all require a person. Anyone selling you an automated-only audit is selling you a third of an audit.
What does it cost?
Audits typically run $1,800 to $4,500 depending on page count and complexity. Remediation is quoted from the findings. Ongoing monitoring is part of our care plan. We scope after a short call.