How do the ADA and Section 508 relate to WCAG?

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act explicitly adopts WCAG 2.0 Level AA (with later updates moving toward 2.1) as its technical standard for federal ICT. The ADA does not name a version in statute, but courts and the Department of Justice consistently treat WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the practical benchmark for Title III web accessibility.

What is the difference between Level A and Level AA?

WCAG defines three conformance levels. Level A is the minimum and covers the most fundamental barriers, such as text alternatives and keyboard access. Level AA adds stricter requirements like 4.5:1 contrast, captions, and resize support. Both ADA practice and Section 508 require meeting Level A and AA together.

How is the conformance score calculated?

The tool counts only the criteria you mark as applicable, ignoring any set to N/A. The score is the number of Pass items divided by the number of applicable items, expressed as a percentage. A single failed Level A criterion is still a real barrier even if the overall percentage looks high.

Does passing every item here guarantee legal compliance?

No. This is a structured self-assessment, not an audit. Real conformance requires testing with assistive technology, manual review by trained evaluators, and often a formal Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT). Treat failures here as confirmed gaps and passes as candidates for verification.

Does this cover documents and mobile, not just web?

The WCAG success criteria apply across web pages, web applications, mobile apps, and electronic documents such as PDFs. The same criteria — text alternatives, contrast, keyboard operation, and so on — are interpreted for each platform, so use this checklist for any digital deliverable in scope.

What is the ADA / Section 508 Accessibility Checklist?

Step through WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA success criteria mapped to ADA Title III and Section 508 requirements for web, mobile, and documents. Mark each pass, fail, or N/A and get a prioritised remediation list with a conformance score. For US contractors and businesses. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

ADA / Section 508 Accessibility Checklist

Name: ADA / Section 508 Accessibility Checklist
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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US accessibility law is anchored to WCAG. Section 508 adopts WCAG Level AA for federal information and communication technology, and ADA Title III enforcement treats the same standard as the practical bar for public-facing digital products. This checklist lets you self-assess against the core WCAG 2.1 A/AA criteria and produces a prioritised remediation list.

How it works

Each criterion is scored Pass, Fail, or N/A. The conformance score counts only the applicable items:

applicable = total criteria − (criteria marked N/A)
score      = passes / applicable × 100

Failures are grouped by WCAG level so that Level A barriers — the most fundamental — surface above Level AA refinements. A high percentage with even one open Level A failure still means a critical barrier remains.

ADA Title III versus Section 508 — who does each apply to?

Section 508 applies to federal agencies and entities that receive federal funding. It was updated through the 2017 “ICT Final Rule” to explicitly adopt WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the technical standard for web and software, with a stated intent to track WCAG 2.1 updates. If you are a contractor building software for a US federal agency, Section 508 compliance is a contractual requirement.

ADA Title III applies to “places of public accommodation” — a legal category that US courts and the Department of Justice have consistently extended to commercial websites and apps. There is no single statute that names WCAG by version, but DOJ guidance and the overwhelming weight of settlement agreements and court rulings treat WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the expected standard for commercial digital products.

In practice, a product that meets WCAG 2.1 AA satisfies both frameworks for digital interfaces.

The most commonly failed criteria

Based on accessibility audit data across web products, these are the criteria that most often fail:

1.1.1 Non-text content (Level A): images missing meaningful alt text.
1.4.3 Contrast (Level AA): text colour against background below the 4.5:1 ratio.
2.4.7 Focus visible (Level AA): keyboard focus indicator removed or too faint to see.
4.1.2 Name, role, value (Level A): interactive elements missing accessible names (labels on inputs, aria-label on icon buttons).
1.3.1 Info and relationships (Level A): visual structure (headings, lists, tables) not conveyed in the markup.

If you only have time to check five things, start with these.

VPAT and procurement

US federal agencies typically require a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) — a formal Accessibility Conformance Report completed by the vendor — before procurement. The VPAT 2.4 WCAG edition is the current standard template. This self-assessment checklist can inform the VPAT, but a VPAT should reflect testing with assistive technologies, not just code inspection.

Notes and tips

Self-assessment is the start, not the finish. Verify passes with a screen reader (NVDA or JAWS on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS/iOS) and keyboard-only navigation. Have trained evaluators confirm anything ambiguous. This checklist covers web, mobile, and document deliverables, since the same success criteria apply across all digital formats.