If you’ve invested in an accessibility platform, it should work for everyone on your team, including those who use assistive technology. So what happens when the very tool meant to help you meet accessibility standards can’t fully meet them itself?
The best way to help prevent this from happening to your organization is to require every vendor to submit an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). An ACR is a report card that shows how well a product, like software, a website, or an application, meets accessibility standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or other requirements like Section 508 in the U.S..
Point of clarification: An ACR is created by completing a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). A VPAT is a blank template that guides a vendor through the process of describing the level of accessibility of their product. Once that VPAT has been completed, the resulting document is the Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). People often refer to the ACR as a VPAT.
To put this into perspective, we took a closer look at how our own ACR stacks up against some of our major competitors. The results highlighted where we lead the pack and revealed some key differences that are critical when choosing the right solution.
One competitor in particular lists multiple Partially Supports ratings against WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA success criteria in their ACR:
- Keyboard Navigation – Some features are provided by a third-party vendor and are not fully operable without a mouse. And the focus order gets lost.
Keyboard accessibility ensures that, wherever possible, content can be operated solely through a keyboard or keyboard interface. Many people can not use a mouse due to physical limitations. And for some, using a keyboard is simply faster and more efficient.
- Screen Reader Support – The absence of programmatic labels and unclear relationships in workflows, such as form completion, can make tasks more challenging or even impossible for users of assistive technology. Screen reader support ensures that information and relationships implied by visual or auditory formatting remain intact when presentation changes, such as when content is read by a screen reader or displayed with a user’s style sheet.
- Color Contrast & Visual Cues – Information sometimes relies solely on color or has insufficient contrast.
Not everyone experiences color in the same way due to differences in color vision. Providing information with color and additional visual cues ensures that users with color deficiencies can still perceive the information. For example, a red dot with text to the right of it that reads Stop.
- Form Accessibility – Some form fields lack labels, and some error messages are not connected to the correct input field.
Providing labels and / or instructions is required so users know what information to enter. Providing labels and instructions also helps prevent user input errors .
These aren’t just edge cases; they are core accessibility and usability barriers for your team members with disabilities. And remember, when your platform is accessible, it's easier for everyone to use.
If your platform isn’t accessible, it excludes your teams from fully participating in testing, remediation, and reporting.
How DubBot Stands Apart
DubBot’s Accessibility Conformance Report tells a different story. Our platform:
- Meets all WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA criteria for our application interface.
- Supports full keyboard navigation with no traps or loss of focus.
- Includes proper labeling, semantic structure, and ARIA support for every interactive element.
- Ensures color contrast compliance throughout the UI with customizable highlight colors for maximum visibility.
- Has been manually tested with JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver by CPACC-certified accessibility professionals. (To conduct accessibility testing on your own digital product, request DubBot’s Accessibility Testing Checklist.)
We believe an accessibility tool should model the very standards it measures. That’s why DubBot’s platform is designed and tested to be accessible for all users, including those using assistive technologies.
If your current accessibility platform fails its own accessibility tests, that’s not just ironic, it’s a problem. That failure directly excludes your team from essential workflow processes.
With DubBot, you can trust that your tool is as accessible as the websites you’re striving to improve. DubBot will empower your entire team and ensure true accessibility for everyone.
If you would like a copy of DubBot’s ACR, please email me at maggie.vaughan@dubbot.com.
A human author creates the DubBlog posts. The AI tool Gemini is sometimes used to brainstorm subject ideas, generate blog post outlines, and rephrase certain portions of the content. Our marketing team carefully reviews all final drafts for accuracy and authenticity. The opinions and perspectives expressed remain the sole responsibility of the human author.
