UserWay Launches Managed Accessibility and Compliance for Enterprises

For the first time, enterprises can fully outsource their digital accessibility journey to experts, for audits, remediations and legal support, backed by a $1 million guarantee

Gearing up for Web Summit 2022, UserWay, the world leader in digital accessibility, trusted by over 1 million websites, has launched Managed Accessibility, a full-scale solution for enterprises. Managed Accessibility is used to achieve and maintain web accessibility and full legal compliance. In a first for the industry, the solution provides a robust Legal Support Program (LSP). It is also backed by UserWay’s million-dollar legal guarantee.

As governments expand anti-discrimination laws across the United States and the European Union, companies of all sizes grapple with a growing number of lawsuits and litigation risks. Over 5,000 digital accessibility-related lawsuits were filed in the U.S. in 2021 alone, and among the top 50 websites on the internet, 77% have been found to have moderate to severe accessibility violations. When companies break accessibility laws, the implications are dire for the digital economy, locking out up to 1 billion people with some form of disability.

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Today, UserWay provides AI-powered accessibility solutions to global organizations, such as Coca-Cola, Disney, Nielsen, and the United Nations. To protect enterprises from every angle with long-term accessibility programs, UserWay’s Managed Accessibility combines the company’s AI solutions suite with human expert intervention. The solution fully manages corporate digital accessibility efforts, from websites to PDFs and online videos, avoiding the costly effort of hiring and training or repurposing internal teams. In addition to UserWay’s AI-powered Pro Accessibility Widget, the new solution includes manual auditing, reviews and testing, site scans, continuous monitoring, and hands-on remediation by UserWay accessibility developers.

According to Allon Mason, UserWay CEO, “Most organizations don’t have dedicated internal digital accessibility teams. UserWay’s Managed Accessibility allows such organizations to achieve full ADA compliance much faster than ever, with little effort.”

Dr. Lionel Wolberger, UserWay COO, said, “Managed Accessibility is the result of the evolution of both products and services at UserWay.”

One feature that sets Managed Accessibility apart from competitors is UserWay’s LSP. This program provides comprehensive guidance in addressing and responding to any type of legal complaint, demand letter, or litigation resulting from not meeting ADA and other international accessibility regulations based on the WCAG guidelines. The UserWay LSP team includes W3C contributors, lawyers, and other legal and digital accessibility experts who specialize in the legal aspects of digital accessibility and litigation. This combination of disciplines means UserWay covers everything from assessing claim validity to tailoring an accessibility action plan, serving as an expert witness in a trial, and actioning remediations based on valid legal claims in record time.

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Other notable features of Managed Accessibility include:                                                                            

• Rapid Pro Widget Integration: The UserWay team works with clients to integrate the UserWay AI-Powered Pro Widget into their site(s). If any custom site remediations (CSRs) are required to remediate more complex accessibility violations, UserWay’s accessibility developers add those directly based on UserWay’s detailed analyses and audits.
• Manual Audits: UserWay performs extensive manual audits that detail every violation and what needs to be done to correct each one.
• Manual Remediations: Custom image alts, custom reviews and remediation of complex site nav, popups and form field labels are remediated by self-executing JavaScript snippets authored by UserWay’s experienced accessibility developers so remediations are created without any additional effort by the customer.
• Real-World Testing: UserWay’s staff of people with disabilities who are also accessibility experts test websites and specific components using various assistive technologies, such as screen readers and braille readers, to ensure each element has been remediated according to the WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.
• Full WCAG 2.1 AA Statement of Compliance (SOC): The SOC details and reinforces the digital accessibility level and status while helping fend off legal risk and possible complaints or demand letters. The SOC is shared publicly with site visitors.
• Dedicated Account Manager: Each Managed Accessibility client is assigned a dedicated account manager and accessibility expert who manages the project from start to end, including the onboarding, remediations, implementation, communication, and synchronization with the client’s principal stakeholders.

UserWay will be attending Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon November 1-4, 2022, where executives will discuss digital accessibility.