Answers ADA Compliance

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1

Hi there - I had a client ask about the ADA compliance for Answers. I know that there is some WCAG compliance work being done, but I’m not sure: a) how ADA and WCAG are related and b) how to frame Answer’s current level of compliance to clients. A few specific examples of how Answers addresses these ability concerns would also be helpful!

Thanks,
Anna

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Hi Anna,

Thanks for your questions!

1. How are ADA and WCAG are related?

ADA stands for the American Disabilities Act, which is “a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.” (https://adata.org/learn-about-ada).

WCAG stands for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). You can think of these as the practical standards for the ADA – by creating a website that adheres to the best practices set in WCAG, you’re helping your site be in-line with the ADA. (WCAG 2 Overview | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) | W3C)

One caveat: WCAG is not always black and white (rules often have a variety of interpretations).

2. How should I frame Answer’s current level of compliance to clients?

The core items in an Answers experience are built to align with WCAG 2.0 AA best practices. We test our software using Wave and Voiceover on Mac before releasing any new versions.

Some of the earlier iterations of the Answers frontend may not be compliant. It is an ongoing engineering effort to constantly improve the accessibility of the library, and each new release will continue to have more compliant features.

Note that some customizability within the library can lead to a less compliant site – for example, if you set a color that has low contrast, this could cause issues for visually impaired users. If you have questions about this, we recommend reviewing your end site using Wave, https://wave.webaim.org/

Let us know here if you receive any feedback from clients about compliance of the library – we’re very open to further feedback!

Rose

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Hi @roser - I had a client ask today about AA compliance. I was wondering if there is any update on this topic or if this response is still current? Thanks!

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Hi Melissa, yes this information is still current. We also released this blog post with additional information:

Thanks!

1 Like
5

Hi HH community - is the last blog post the most up to date on this topic? Thanks

6

Hi Sam,

Yes it is! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Rose

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Hi! As this last message is from Apr 2022, just wanted to double-check if this documentation is still the latest to provide to clients? Thank you!