Sumner Davenport presents: Accessibility Statements -- What, Who, and Why?

Nearly all public websites should have certain policy declarations posted: a Privacy Policy, a Cookie Policy, Terms of Use -- and an Accessibility Statement.

Accessibility Statements declare what steps a website owner has done to ensure that their website meets basic Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA, which is the closest thing to a set of laws that we have at the moment.

WCAG is a product of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is an international public-interest non-profit organization where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. Founded by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, the W3C (W3C) develops standards and guidelines to help everyone build a web based on the principles of accessibility, internationalization, privacy and security.

(Here is a "plain English" guide to WCAG, a guide to the guidelines. )

We know you are wondering . . . will an Accessibility Statement keep you from being sued? Good question! If only there was someone we know who could answer that . . . oh wait! There is! We will be privileged to have longtime accessibility specialist, Sumner Davenport, co-organizer of WordPress San Fernando Valley Meetup, joining us to answer that and other questions.

Sumner will also be providing tips for creating your own Accessibility Statement(s).

Let's take a look at all of this and together learn from some real life examples, including website owners currently being sued. We will share ideas and tools, such as a helpful (and cost-free) Accessibility Statement generator provided by W3C.