Three services are essential to make a website ADA compliant: a WCAG 2.1 AA evaluation, remediation support, and validation. The evaluation identifies accessibility issues across the site. Remediation addresses those issues in code and content. Validation confirms each fix actually meets the standard. Together, these three services move a website from unknown risk to documented WCAG conformance, which is the practical definition of ADA website compliance today. Anything short of this sequence leaves issues unverified, and unverified issues are exactly what plaintiffs’ firms look for when filing lawsuits.
| Service | What It Does |
|---|---|
| WCAG Evaluation | A qualified auditor evaluates the site against WCAG 2.1 AA and identifies every accessibility issue with location, description, and recommended fix. |
| Remediation | Developers and content owners address the identified issues in code, design, and copy based on the evaluation report. |
| Validation | The auditor re-evaluates each fixed issue to confirm WCAG conformance and produces documentation reflecting the verified state. |
Why These Three, and Not More
ADA website compliance is not a product you install. It is a documented state of WCAG conformance reached through skilled work. Every other service, training, policy writing, ongoing monitoring, adds value at the margins, but the core path runs through evaluation, remediation, and validation.
Skip any one of the three and the work falls apart. An evaluation without remediation produces a report and no improvement. Remediation without an evaluation produces guesswork. Validation without the prior two has nothing to verify.
Service 1: A WCAG Evaluation
The evaluation is the foundation. A qualified auditor evaluates the website against WCAG 2.1 AA criterion by criterion and documents every issue with location, severity, and a recommended path to conformance.
Scans cannot replace this. Automated scans only flag approximately 25% of issues, and the issues they miss tend to be the ones that drive lawsuits: keyboard traps, missing labels on custom controls, screen reader incompatibility with interactive components, and reading order problems. A thorough evaluation is the only way to identify these accurately.
What you should expect from the evaluation deliverable: a structured report listing each issue, the WCAG success criterion it relates to, the page or component where it appears, and clear remediation guidance written for developers.
Service 2: Remediation
Remediation is the work of addressing every issue the evaluation identified. This includes code changes, design adjustments, content rewrites, and sometimes architectural decisions about how a component should behave.
Most companies use their internal development team for remediation because they already know the codebase. The evaluation report gives developers the technical detail needed to map each issue to the right fix without re-investigating the problem.
Some issues are quick. Adding alt text, labeling form fields, fixing color contrast. Others require rebuilding a component from scratch. The evaluation report should make that distinction clear so the team can prioritize.
Service 3: Validation
Validation is where most ADA compliance efforts quietly fall apart. A development team makes fixes, marks issues as resolved, and assumes the work is done. Then a lawsuit arrives, an attorney conducts their own evaluation, and the “fixed” issues are still present.
Validation closes that loop. The auditor re-evaluates each remediated issue and confirms whether it now conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA. Issues that still fail go back for additional work. The result is documented proof that fixes were made and verified by a qualified third party.
This is the documentation that matters if the site is ever questioned. Evaluation report, remediation log, validation results. That sequence tells a clear story.
What About Ongoing Work?
Websites change. New pages are added, components are updated, content is published. A site that conformed in March can have new issues by June. After the initial evaluation, remediation, and validation are complete, ongoing work keeps the site in conformance over time.
That ongoing work, periodic re-evaluations, scanning between evaluations to catch regressions, training for content authors, is important but secondary. It only makes sense once the three essential services have brought the site to a known, conformant state.
FAQ
How much do these three services cost?
Cost depends on the size and complexity of the website. A small informational site with 10 to 20 unique page templates costs less to evaluate and remediate than a large ecommerce store with hundreds of templates and custom functionality. Remediation cost varies widely because it depends on how the site is built and who does the work. Validation is generally priced relative to the original evaluation.
Can I use a scan instead of an evaluation?
No. Scans detect roughly 25% of accessibility issues. The remaining 75%, including the issues most likely to be cited in a demand letter, require human evaluation. A scan can support ongoing monitoring once a site is conformant, but it cannot replace the initial evaluation.
Do my developers need accessibility training to do the remediation?
It helps, but a clear evaluation report with specific recommendations can guide a capable development team through most fixes. For complex components, custom widgets, dialogs, navigation patterns, accessibility expertise becomes more important. Training pays off when the team will be building new accessible features going forward.
How long does the full process take?
An evaluation on a typical website can be completed in two to four weeks. Remediation timelines vary based on issue count and development capacity. Validation takes another one to two weeks after fixes are submitted. Most websites complete the full cycle within two to four months.
Does completing these three services protect against a lawsuit?
It significantly reduces risk. Documented WCAG 2.1 AA conformance, verified through validation, gives an attorney strong material to respond with if a demand letter arrives. No service eliminates the possibility of being sued, but conformance plus documentation is the strongest defensive position available.
The evaluation, the remediation, the validation. That is the path. Everything else is a refinement of one of those three.
Contact me to discuss your ADA compliance plan.