Bring Your Website Into Compliance
Over the past two years, there has been a significant surge in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits filed and won against companies and nonprofit organizations for having inaccessible web sites that cannot be used by people of all abilities.
Equalize Digital offers rapid accessibility audits that help you determine, as quickly as possible, what accessibility problems exist on your website. We offer multiple remediation plans to improve the accessibility of your website in a way that most makes sense for your organizational goals, timeline, and budget.
Our team of accessibility experts can help you to eliminate barriers on your existing website and ensure all people have equal access to your content on the web.
Quick Benefits
- Reach everyone in your audience.
- Ensure you’re in compliance with all legal requirements and international best practices.
- Boost your search engine ranking and enhance search engine optimization efforts.
- Help make the internet a better place and improve your brand reputation.
Why Equalize Digital
Our goal is to help you have a fully accessible website, one that conforms with ADA, Section 508, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 guidelines, in the shortest amount of time. Below is an overview of how we’re different from other accessibility companies.
We Do Audits Differently
At Equalize Digital we recognize that most organizations request an accessibility audit not because they want to receive a massive PDF report with hundreds of pages, but because they want to make sure their website is fully compliant. Rather than spending weeks auditing your website and making no fixes, we have a fast-turnaround audit process that allows us to quickly determine the scope and set priorities for remediation, then get started making fixes right away. Learn more about our approach to audits.
Real Fixes – Not Overlays
There are tools on the market that promise “instant accessibility” and only require inserting a line of JavaScript code on your website. These overlays use AI to attempt to fix accessibility problems on the page as it loads, however they come with a number of downsides and have even been cited in accessibility lawsuits. Our approach is to make corrections in the source code and includes a human review of every item to ensure 100% accessibility.
Real-World User Testing
We employ blind and visually impaired testers using JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver with keyboard navigation on desktop and voice control on mobile. For websites that serve audiences with lower reading levels or lower cognitive function, we also recommend testing with users in that demographic. User testing is included in all remediation packages as part of our Audit to CertificationTM process. Learn more about website user testing.
Accessibility Training for Your Team
Our goal is not just to improve the accessibility of your website, but also to provide training and education to your in-house team – designers, developers, and content managers – to ensure that you have the skills necessary to maintain accessibility compliance on an ongoing basis. We offer personalized remote learning opportunities and in-person training sessions at your location. Learn more about accessibility training.
Our Audit to CertificationTM Process
Our website accessibility audits are more than an automated scan – because when it comes to accessibility, AI can only get you so far. Our process includes both automated testing and manual review by trained accessibility professionals and visually impaired testers – real-world users of assistive technology – with the goal of rapidly remediating errors and certifying your website as accessible.
- Automated scan of full website and manual review of up to 5 representative pages.
- Meeting to discuss initial audit and determine timeline for remediation.
- Publish accessibility statement on website to share efforts with your audience.
- Remediation in tandem with continued manual review of all pages.
- User testing with blind and visually impaired testers to confirm remediation.
- Certification of conformance issued to website.
- Ongoing monitoring and/or accessibility training for your team.
Remediation Options
Once an accessibility audit is complete, we offer a variety of options for resolving identified problems, and are happy to customize plans to meet your timeline and budget.
Retainer-Based Remediation
For organizations that have a large number of accessibility errors and issues on their website or who prefer to pace out fixes over a number of months for budgetary or other reasons, we offer retainer-based remediation services. This allows for a greater degree of flexibility throughout the engagement. Retainers start at eight (8) hours per month.
- Fixed monthly cost that spreads remediation fees over a number of months.
- Allows for incremental remediation over time. Fixes launched one-by-one as they’re completed.
- Ideal for organizations that frequently modify or update their websites.
- Remediation priorities can shift over time based on your needs, offering greater flexibility.
- Can easily transition into an accessibility monitoring plan, after a certificate is issued.
- No long-term contracts. You can cancel or change your remediation plan with just 30 days’ notice.
One-Time Remediation
A one-time remediation package is ideal for clients who have urgent remediation needs, who prefer to make fixes all at once, or who have a small number of problems present on their site. After performing an initial audit, we’ll establish a scope for all changes needed and determine pricing and timeline.
- The quickest path to accessibility: all problems resolved quickly and in the shortest time frame.
- Fixes launched all at once in a single rollout.
- Ideal for organizations facing legal action and in need of urgent fixes.
- Perfect for new websites or applications that need to be accessible prior to launch.
- Works well for websites that are relatively static or have a small number of issues.
- Can be combined with retainer-based remediation to accelerate urgent fixes, before moving through remaining issues at a measured pace.
Collaborative Remediation
A collaborative remediation package is ideal for clients who need a lower cost option, who prefer to make a significant portion of the fixes on their own, but still would like professional assistance in some areas. After performing an initial audit, we’ll take ownership over fixing the most difficult or pressing issues while also guiding your in-house team in tackling the moderate-to-easy issues.
- Our most flexible and lowest cost option.
- Can be done as either a one-time or retainer-based collaborative effort.
- Great for organizations that prefer to take a hands-on approach in the effort to become fully accessible.
- Extra training for designated members of your team who will be collaborating with us to make fixes.
- You control the pace of remediation. Need it done fast? Assign more members of your team to the project.
- Avoid the toughest hurdles. Critical issues will always be taken care of by our team.
Accessibility Remediation FAQs
An accessibility audit is required before remediation can begin. Audits allow us and you to gain a clear understanding of the number of pages and problems that need to be addressed. Following the audit, we’ll have a discussion with you to determine the remediation timeline that works best for your organization.
During remediation, our team will make any source code and content changes to your website in order to meet current accessibility standards. We will continue to make changes and modifications until either the engagement is canceled or we have reached 100% compliance.
Depending on what remediation package is chosen, this may take place as one-time remediation, retainer-based remediation, or collaborative remediation. During remediation, we will hold regularly scheduled meetings and send reports to update you on progress and answer questions.
In order for us to conduct remediation, we will require full access to your hosting environment, any active and relevant code repositories, and an administrator account on your website.
The timeframe for remediation will depend upon the number and type of errors detected in our audit, the content management system or framework that your website uses, and what remediation package you have selected. Remediation can take anywhere from one week to several months depending upon the above factors. The fastest way to learn how long it will take to remediate your website is to request an audit.
Not necessarily. If your website is still effective at driving results for your organization and it only needs a few small fixes, then you should probably keep it. On the other hand, if the results of our rapid audit process show that it would cost more to repair your existing website than to build a new one, then building a new website might be a good idea.
It also comes down to your website’s lifespan, which is typically 3-5 years. So, if your website is already 4 years old, maybe it would be better to explore having Equalize Digital build you a new, fully accessible website.
Yes. Our team has developed accessible websites and web applications and has provided accessibility consulting for large universities, government agencies, and enterprise-level clients.
Yes. We’re happy to provide accessibility audits and consulting to other marketing agencies and WordPress theme or plugin developers. We strongly believe in making the internet a more accessible place and love having the opportunity to review and provide recommendations to free and commercial themes and plugins.
