Design Domination Podcast Episode #182: Accessibility Compliance versus Conformance

Find out about why it's important to understand the difference between accessibility compliance versus conformance when doing accessibility work.

Music: https://www.bensound.com


When you do any work for a client, especially accessibility work, it’s crucial to have a contract that clearly sets expectations for both parties. It’s also extremely important to use the correct terms when you talk to clients and in your proposals and contracts.

You don’t want to put yourself on the hook for something outside of your expertise, such as something legal, for example. What if the client gets sued for non-compliance and then comes to you because you said they were in compliance?

Unfortunately, most designers and developers—and clients—use accessibility terms incorrectly. That could get you in hot water.

Stick around to find out how to properly talk about two important accessibility terms—compliance and conformance, so you can CYA.

I have to give my disclaimer that I am not a lawyer. I don’t play one on the podcast, and none of this is legal advice.

A lot of clients, web designers and developers, and document designers use the terms “compliance” and “conformance” interchangeably when they talk about accessibility. But the terms are often misused, and they really mean different things.

Clients may ask for their website or a document to be made “ADA compliant,” “Section 508 compliant” or “WCAG compliant,” for example.

You need to make sure you’re using the right term, because it’s the basis of the work you’re promising to do for them, and it needs to be in your proposals and contracts.

Accessibility Compliance

Let’s talk about “compliance”—the one I hear all the time.

When it comes to accessibility, “compliance” refers to complying with an accessibility law. That could be a federal law, such as Section 508 or the Americans With Disabilities Act, or a state law, such as California’s AB 434.

Governments and certain public and private organizations may be required to comply with one or more accessibility laws depending on their size and other criteria.

An organization could also potentially face a lawsuit involving legal fines and fees if they don’t comply. A lawyer or judge would have to look at several factors and determine whether an organization is in compliance or not.

Many accessibility laws specify how to comply with the law when it comes to website or document accessibility. They might specifically state conformance to certain WCAG standards, such as WCAG 2.0 AA or WCAG 2.1 AA, for example.

Oftentimes, there is a lot of gray area.

Regardless, it is their responsibility to comply with a particular law. If you promise “compliance,” you are opening up your business to potential legal problems, like if the client gets slapped with a lawsuit, for example. Well, but you promised compliance!

The thing is is that compliance usually goes beyond creating an accessible document or website. That organization has other responsibilities under the law that have nothing to do with you or a website or document. For example, an organization may have a physical location that needs to be ADA compliant, such as making the entrance wheelchair accessible.

Accessibility Conformance

The other word you don’t hear as often is “conformance.” That is when an organization adopts accessibility standards such as WCAG for a website or document.

A law may mention WCAG. But WCAG is not a law. A lot of people think it’s the law. It is a set of accessibility standards recognized worldwide and mentioned in many laws.

WCAG conformance may be one small part of compliance with a law. A document or website that conforms to a level of WCAG does not also mean that an organization is in compliance with a law. Like I mentioned earlier, that there are other factors.

The other thing I sometimes hear from clients is a request to meet both A and AA. AA conformance includes A. AAA conformance includes AA and A.

It’s important to note too that just because a site conforms to WCAG doesn’t mean it is accessible (or user friendly). The opposite it true too. It also doesn’t mean that a site that doesn’t conform to WCAG is not accessible.

Contractual Obligations

So what does all this mean for contractual obligations? Your client is going to expect that your work meets some sort of accessibility standard in order to help them with any legal requirement to comply that they might have.

So you will want to mention “WCAG 2.2 AA” for websites or “WCAG 2.2 AA” and PDF/UA” for documents, for example. There needs to be some explicit expectation included in your proposals and contracts about that.

I leave out any mentions of “compliance” and stick to “conformance” instead.

I also never promise anything to be 100% accessible either, especially a website. Even the W3C addresses this. They say:

Although content may satisfy all success criteria, the content may not always be usable by people with a wide variety of disabilities.

This topic is also something I will talk more on in the future as well.

Conclusion

In short, think of compliance and conformance this way: organizations comply with laws; digital assets such as websites and documents conform to accessibility standards.

As a designer or developer, you are not in the position to decide if a client legally complies with a law. Leave that to courts to decide.

Having said that, even if a client does not have to comply with an accessibility law, it doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from accessibility. In fact, there are so many benefits of accessibility for clients to make their websites and documents accessible. I went into those in episode 149, The Business Case for Accessibility.

There are also so many benefits to accessibility for you as a document designer or web designer or developer. So be sure to check out episode 181 on the 10 Things You Should Know About Accessibility. Give me 5 minutes to make the case and if that doesn’t do it, check out episode 112, 8 Reasons Designers Should Care About Accessibility.

Are you confused about where to get started with accessibility? Check out my free guides, podcast episodes, free training and courses.

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