- Do I need one on my website?
- Where should I put it?
- What should I include in it?
- How often do I need to update it?
- Is it even a legal requirement?
- How do I explain known accessibility problems?
- What contact details should it have?
- Can I say my site is fully accessible?
- How do I write one without using technical terms?
These are just a few of the questions I've found after a simple online search for common real-world questions people ask about accessibility statements.
Most people are not sure about how to write one, how to maintain it, what to include in it and what not. Invariably, there were questions about legal requirements and compliance. These questions come up a lot because requirements vary by country, sector and organisation type.
Very few questions are about how to keep the statement honest. I always appreciate reading an accessibility statement that is specific about known problems, clear about the organisation's progress and is not chuck full of jargon I need to search the WCAG for. Speaking of which, I specifically dislike statements with WCAG success-criterion codes without any plain language explanation.
A good accessibility statement lists the known barriers in simple terms, explains what users can do meanwhile and says how the organisation is working to improve accessibility. It should be specific, honest and easy to understand for anyone.
With this in mind, I realised I never actually explored and created any concrete written down guideline for what I thought a good accessibility statement was.
The next few emails in this series are meant to do just that.