Accessibility Consulting for Federal, State, and Local Government
The internet today is a vital tool for communicating with constituents. Local, State, and Federal government agencies are serving the American public online, sharing information on everything from taxes and voting to allowing people to renew library books or driver’s licenses online. Government websites allow programs and services to have a greater reach and can reduce administrative burdens for government employees.
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 apply to government websites and websites for programs or independent organizations that receive federal funding. If you manage a website for a government entity or a federally funded project, it is vital that your website be accessible. Not only is this mandated by law, but it also will positively contribute to your ability to serve the public and fulfill your mission. Website accessibility helps people with a myriad of permanent and temporary disabilities, and also adds features that help other special populations access your website including disabled veterans, people in rural areas, low-income individuals with only access to mobile internet connections, and the elderly.
Equalize Digital is here to help your agency or department ensure that your website and web applications are accessible to people of all abilities. We are experienced in designing, developing, testing, and maintaining accessible websites for government agencies and programs, and are happy to respond to RFPs.
Quick Benefits
- Ensure that all members of the public can access and navigate your website and apps.
- Reach underserved populations, including people in rural areas or on metered connections and the elderly, in addition to people with disabilities.
- Modernize your processes and procedures, reducing administrative burden for your staff.
- Maintain compliance with WCAG 2.1, ADA, and Section 508 accessibility guidelines and laws.
Make Your Website Accessible
1) Assess
Comprehensive audits and user testing to determine your compliance gaps. We’ll help you identify areas that need improvement – whether in code or content.
2) Resolve
Equalize Digital is your partner to resolve all accessibility errors and ensure your website meets WCAG 2.1, Section 508, and ADA standards.
3) Maintain
From providing training for your team to ongoing website assessments, we’ll verify your website stays compliant with current accessibility laws and standards.
Web Accessibility Services That Fit Your Needs
Whether you need urgent accessibility remediation or are planning a new website or application for your agency or program and want to ensure it is accessible to people of all abilities, our team of expert consultants and accessibility-focused developers are here to help.
We understand the unique complexities that are included in working on government-funded projects and look forward to helping you achieve your website accessibility goals.
Government Website Accessibility Resources
Equalize Digital is more than an accessibility audit and remediation company. We build training into our audit, remediation, and new website development processes to help ensure that your website stays accessible after its remediation or launch. Our goal is not just to be your remediators, but to be your teachers so that by the end of our engagement you’ll have a solid understanding of website accessibility basics. We want you to be empowered to enter new content on your website or create new designs in an accessible manner.
If you would like to learn more about website accessibility, please inquire about our training services or visit these helpful resources for government website accessibility.
Accessibility Requirements Tool
Step-by-step guide to help you easily identify relevant accessibility requirements from the Revised 508 Standards, and incorporate them into your procurement and contracting documentation, as well as in-house IT development.
IT Accessibility Laws and Policies
Learn more about Section 508, the revised standards, and related laws and policies as they relate to your agency, department, or program.
ADA.gov Information for State and Local Government Websites
Information from the U.S. Department of Justice for State and local governments on how to ensure that your website is ADA compliant.
Digital.gov Information on Accessibility
Information on the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities.
Ready to get started?
Whether you’re concerned about accessibility compliance or you want to completely overhaul your online presence, our team is ready to help you ensure your website is usable by people of all abilities.
To get started or learn more about how we work, call us at (512) 942-5858 or visit our contact page to request more information from our sales team.
FAQs for Government Website Accessibility
In our experience, unless you are already extensively focusing on website accessibility, there are likely accessibility issues present on your current website that need to be fixed. Nearly all websites and applications have accessibility problems because, unfortunately, we have not yet reached a point where all designers and developers make accessibility a priority, and many government agencies have websites that were built many years ago.
If you’re not sure that our services are right for you, we recommend getting one of our free risk assessments. These assessments tell you:
- If there are any errors present on your website.
- How we can help and the fastest path to remediation.
You can request a risk assessment at no charge on our accessibility audits page.
If you request a risk assessment, you’ll be able to schedule a meeting to go over your assessment at a time that makes sense for you. Typically we have your risk assessment complete and are available to meet to discuss it within 24 hours.
Our initial accessibility audits generally take 5 business days from the date you sign up and pay your deposit.
Remediation timelines are unique for every client depending upon several items, including the number of problems present on the site and the budget available for fixes. Our goal is to remediate all issues as quickly as possible, and some clients choose to have an intense remediation phase over several weeks following the audit. Other clients may elect to enter a remediation plan that stretches over many months due to the number of problems that need to be addressed, the number of pages requiring manual review, and their budget.
Yes. Our team has developed accessible websites and web applications and has provided accessibility consulting for large public universities, government agencies, and federally funded programs.
We are familiar with the intricacies of working on a website that is paid for by state or federal dollars and that there may be additional contractual items that need to be included in the terms of service or certain milestones that need to be met in order for payment to be released.
Yes, we do occasionally submit responses to RFPs for new website projects depending upon the scope of the project and timeline. If your agency or organization has an RFP that you would like us to review and respond to, please email it to sales [at] equalizedigital.com. Please note, we do have a strong preference toward responding to RFPs that list a budget.
Yes. Equalize Digital is a business that qualifies for set-asides. We are:
- Majority Woman-Owned
- A Small Business
- Qualified as an Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB)
Additionally, we’re currently in the process of becoming a Certified B-Corp.
Yes. If you have your own in-house developers but need a trained accessibility expert to assist with auditing and providing support as your development team remediates issues, we can help.
For organizations with an internal development team, we can craft custom remediation and monitoring support plans which includes access to our scanning dashboard and reports, as well as time for training and support as your developers work through issues. We can also coordinate user testing sessions with our blind and visually impaired testers. Please contact us for additional information.
