A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a standardized report that demonstrates how products and/or services conform with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Section 508’s requirements are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the international standards for digital accessibility. That means that, by extension, the VPAT shows whether your product follows WCAG (and the numerous international laws that use WCAG as a framework).
If you’re selling a product to a government agency, you’ll probably need a VPAT. And even if you’re not planning on marketing to public entities, the VPAT can be a useful tool for finding issues that impact your users.
However, you should not ask developers to fill out the VPAT reports unless they have digital accessibility experience and core competencies. Here’s why.
Testing content for accessibility can take (a lot of) time
Digital accessibility awareness is improving, but unfortunately, traditional computer science curricula focuses primarily on programming — not on WCAG. Even when accessibility is covered in education, it’s rarely emphasized.
As a result, most developers will need to research constantly when filling out a VPAT. That’s a poor use of their time, particularly if they’re also tasked with remediating any issues that they find.
And many VPAT/WCAG criteria are somewhat subjective. For example, WCAG Success Criterion (SC) 1.1.1 requires that non-text content has a “text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose.” Determining whether the alternative is truly equivalent can be difficult and requires human judgment.
Dozens of other WCAG requirements are at least somewhat subjective. For people outside the accessibility community, determining compliance can be tricky (and frustrating).
Related: What Are Exceptions to Section 508 Accessibility Requirements?
Developers aren't solely responsible for compliance
There’s a common misconception that the success or failure of accessibility compliance falls on the product development team.
Developers must follow the best practices of WCAG when doing their work — but that’s also true for designers, marketers, content writers, and everyone else in your organization.
And when you ask your developers to fill out a VPAT report, they’ll quickly discover issues that have nothing to do with product development:
- When text doesn’t have sufficient contrast with its background, it’s unreadable for some people with vision disabilities (and many other users).
- When video content doesn’t have accurate captions, people with hearing disabilities may not be able to use it.
- When text alternatives are filled with jargon and unnecessary words, they’re not helpful for assistive technology users.
These types of issues are easy to fix — but it’s not the developer’s job to fix them. And if the development team doesn’t have the necessary core competencies to fix an accessibility issue, they’re much more likely to miss that issue when filling out the report.
Related: Why Web Accessibility Isn’t Just for Developers
Instead of relying solely on developers, take a proactive approach to Section 508 compliance
By asking your product development team to write a VPAT, you’re almost certainly wasting resources. Inaccuracies in the report could lead to compliance issues, and you’ll be marketing the product with a false sense of security.
A better approach: Treat accessibility as a priority from the start of development. Focus on prevention rather than remediation — and think about users with disabilities from day one.
A comprehensive Section 508 compliance strategy should include:
- Digital accessibility training for every member of every team.
- Utilizing inclusive user experience (UX) personas to make decisions during product planning and development.
- Regular product testing, ideally performed by accessibility experts and users with disabilities.
- An accurate VPAT with detailed remarks identifying known issues and, if applicable, relevant exceptions.
We recommend working with an accessibility partner to optimize compliance with Section 508 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your accessibility partner can help you follow the best practices, reduce the cost of remediations, and produce a reliable VPAT that accurately describes your product.
That can make a difference to purchasers — and it’s crucially important for users with disabilities. To discuss your product or your approach to your VPAT and Section 508, send us a message and connect with an accessibility expert.
