Ensuring Accessibility in Web Design: A Guide to WCAG & Section 508 Compliance

Web accessibility is no longer a “nice-to-have,” it’s a non-negotiable aspect of modern web design. Organizations like nonprofits, government agencies, and professional associations are increasingly realizing that making their websites accessible isn’t just about meeting technical standards; it’s about inclusivity, legal responsibility, and smart business. An inaccessible website is essentially closing the door to a huge segment of your potential audience. For a nonprofit, that could mean excluding would-be donors or volunteers; for an association, it could mean alienating members; and for a government agency, it could mean failing in its duty to serve all citizens. In short, accessible web design ensures every visitor can engage with your content, and that makes it mission-critical for organizations that serve the public.

Why Accessible Web Design Is Non-Negotiable

For nonprofits and public-focused organizations, an inaccessible site is like a building with no wheelchair ramp, it signals that some visitors are unwittingly being left out. If your website isn’t accessible, you could be turning away up to 25% of potential visitors who have disabilities. This is a loss no organization can afford, especially when your mission is to reach as many people as possible. Yet the reality is that most websites today have serious accessibility issues. In fact, a recent analysis of one million homepages found an average of over 50 accessibility errors per page, and an astounding 98% of websites fail to comply with current accessibility standards. In other words, the vast majority of sites are creating digital barriers for users with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. Organizations that strive to do good or serve members should not be part of that statistic.

Equally important are the legal and ethical reasons to prioritize accessibility. Digital accessibility isn’t just a technical checklist or a “nice” gesture, it’s often a legal requirement and a moral imperative. In the United States, websites are increasingly considered “public accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), meaning organizations can be held accountable for digital barriers just as they would be for physical ones like an inaccessible storefront. There has been a rising tide of lawsuits and demand letters targeting sites that don’t accommodate users with disabilities. Government agencies have even more explicit obligations: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to ensure their websites and electronic content are accessible to people with disabilities. This doesn’t just apply to federal websites; it also affects many organizations that receive federal funding or contract with the government, since they must meet these requirements as well. Beyond avoiding lawsuits, failing on accessibility can hurt your reputation and trust within the community. Conversely, proactively embracing accessibility enhances your reputation as an inclusive, forward-thinking organization and opens your message to a wider audience. It’s not hard to see why accessibility in web design is truly non-negotiable today for nonprofits, governments, and associations alike.

Understanding WCAG 2.1 Standards

When we talk about making a website accessible, the conversation almost always comes down to WCAG 2.2. WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and version 2.2 is an internationally recognized standard that explains how to make web content usable for people with disabilities. These guidelines are published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as part of their Web Accessibility Initiative, providing a single shared standard for web accessibility adopted globally by individuals, organizations, and governments. In essence, WCAG 2.2 is a comprehensive “how-to” manual for accessible web design. It covers a wide range of criteria to accommodate various disabilities – from blindness and low vision to deafness, motor impairments, cognitive limitations, and more.

One of the core concepts in WCAG is that it’s organized around four key principles, often remembered by the acronym POUR: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. This means your website’s content and user interface must be presented in ways that users can perceive (e.g., providing text alternatives for images so a screen reader can convey them), all functionality must be operable through various means (e.g., via keyboard, not just a mouse, for those who cannot use a mouse), information and UI must be understandable (clear and not confusing or jargon-filled), and content should be robust enough to work with a variety of assistive technologies and browsers. These principles ensure that no aspect of your site is inherently barring someone from access.

WCAG 2.2 also defines three levels of conformance: Level A, AA, and AAA. Level A is the most basic set of accessibility features, AA includes a wider range of important accessibility criteria, and AAA is the highest level with the most stringent (often very challenging) requirements. Most organizations aim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance as a practical target, since Level AA covers the major barriers for users with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive disabilities. In fact, many regulations and settlements (including those from ADA lawsuits) use WCAG Level AA as the benchmark for whether a site is accessible. It’s important to note that WCAG itself isn’t a law – it’s a set of guidelines – but it has become the de facto standard referenced by laws and courts when evaluating digital accessibility. For example, judges and the Department of Justice often look to WCAG criteria to determine if a website meets ADA requirements. In other words, following WCAG 2.2 is the surest path to ensuring your site is legally and practically accessible.

Section 508 Compliance and Legal Obligations

In parallel with WCAG, organizations (especially in the public sector) need to understand Section 508 compliance. Section 508 is a U.S. federal law (an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) that requires federal agencies to create, purchase, and use information and communication technology (including websites and digital tools) that are accessible to people with disabilities. In effect, if you are a federal government website or a contractor developing a website for a federal agency, you are legally obligated to meet accessibility standards under Section 508. Many state and local government agencies have similar requirements, and Section 508 has ripple effects: any organization doing business with the federal government or receiving federal funds (such as certain nonprofits, universities, etc.) will also need to ensure their digital content is accessible in order to comply with related regulations. Section 508 doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of technical standards, it essentially points to guidelines like WCAG. In fact, the Revised Section 508 Standards adopted WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the baseline, and ongoing updates are incorporating WCAG 2.2 criteria for federal sites.

Aside from Section 508, the broader Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) comes into play for many organizations. The ADA is a civil rights law that, among other things, prohibits disability-based discrimination in places of public accommodation. While the ADA was passed in 1990 (before the web as we know it existed) and doesn’t explicitly mention websites, it has been interpreted over time to include the digital domain. The U.S. Department of Justice has made it clear that ADA requirements apply to websites and online services of organizations just as they do to physical facilities. For private businesses, nonprofits, and associations, this typically falls under Title III of the ADA (which covers public accommodations). For state and local governments, Title II of the ADA requires accessible public services, and recent DOJ rules have even set WCAG 2.2 AA as the standard for those entities. The key point is: if your website isn’t accessible, you could be viewed as violating disability rights law. Organizations have faced costly lawsuits, settlements, and reputational damage due to web accessibility complaints. Ensuring compliance with WCAG and Section 508 is thus not only about doing right by your users, it’s about mitigating legal risk and meeting your obligations.

Benefits of Web Accessibility: Reaching More People and Reducing Risk

Complying with WCAG 2.2 and accessibility laws isn’t just about avoiding penalties, it brings significant positive benefits for your organization. By making your site accessible, you are essentially expanding your audience and welcoming a larger community to engage with your content. People with disabilities represent a huge demographic and their friends and families add even more reach. An accessible website means that blind or low-vision users, deaf or hard-of-hearing users, people with limited mobility, and others can all use your services; you’re not unintentionally leaving out a sizeable percentage of the population. This inclusive approach naturally leads to a wider audience and more participation in your mission.

Beyond the direct audience numbers, there are tangible UX and SEO advantages to accessibility. Many accessibility best practices (like adding alt text to images, using proper headings, and ensuring a logical site structure) also improve your site’s search engine optimization. Search engine crawlers “see” your site somewhat like a screen reader would – text alternatives and clean, semantic HTML help them index your content better. Moreover, accessible design tends to improve overall usability for everyone. Clear navigation, sufficient color contrast, captions on videos, and easy-to-read content benefit users without disabilities too – including seniors with age-related vision/hearing changes or anyone viewing your site on a small mobile screen in bright sunlight. In fact, applying WCAG standards often enhances the user experience for all visitors and makes your website more user-friendly in general. The result can be higher engagement and lower bounce rates. New Target’s own client data shows that accessibility improvements can lead to faster load times and higher conversion rates, because an inclusively designed site is simply a better site for everyone.

Let’s not forget risk reduction and compliance peace of mind. By addressing accessibility proactively, you significantly reduce the risk of costly lawsuits or complaints. Instead of scrambling to fix issues under threat of legal action, you’re ahead of the curve. This not only saves money in the long run but also protects your organization’s reputation; you demonstrate due diligence and a commitment to doing what’s right. 

Key Steps to Achieve WCAG & Section 508 Compliance

Improving your website’s accessibility might seem daunting, but it becomes manageable when broken down into concrete steps. Here are some key practices in accessible web design (many of these align with WCAG 2.2 Level AA criteria and Section 508 standards):

Conduct an Accessibility Audit

Start with a thorough review of your current site. This includes automated scans and manual testing (e.g., navigating with a screen reader and keyboard only) to identify issues. An audit will highlight where your site fails to meet WCAG guidelines or 508 requirements, from missing alt text to problematic page structure. Knowing your baseline is the first step to remediation.

Ensure Sufficient Color Contrast

Check that text and important UI elements have enough contrast against their backgrounds. Low-contrast text (like light gray on white) can be nearly illegible for many users. WCAG recommends a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for body text. Practically, this might mean adjusting colors or font weights. Ensuring strong contrast helps not only users with low vision or color blindness, but everyone trying to read content on a small screen or in glare. It’s one of the quickest, high-impact accessibility fixes you can make.

Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

Every meaningful image on your site should have an alt attribute describing its content or function. Alt text is read aloud by screen readers so that blind or visually impaired users can understand what the image is showing. For example, if you have a photo of a volunteer handing out meals, alt text like “Volunteer hands a meal to a community member” conveys the context. Without alt text, a screen reader will just skip the image or read a file name thus leaving the user in the dark. Given that the majority of website images lack alt text, adding these descriptions is a crucial step that ensures no important information or storytelling is lost for those who can’t see images.

Provide Captions and Transcripts for Multimedia

Videos should have closed captions so that deaf or hard-of-hearing users (and anyone watching without sound) can read along. For audio-only content like podcasts, provide transcripts. Captions also help in noisy environments or for viewers who are not fluent in the video’s spoken language. Many jurisdictions (and Section 508) actually require captioning for public videos. This is a simple step to make your content more inclusive and ADA-compliant.

Enable Keyboard Navigation

Ensure that all features of your site can be used with just a keyboard. Some users cannot use a mouse due to mobility impairments; they rely on the Tab key, Enter, arrow keys, etc., to navigate. Check that you can tab through menus, links, and form fields in a logical order and activate all controls via keyboard. Also, visible focus indicators (outlines or highlights on the element that is currently selected) should be present, so keyboard users don’t get lost. Keyboard accessibility is a strong indicator that your site is operable for everyone.

Design Forms for Accessibility

Forms should have clearly associated labels for each field (so screen readers can announce them), and any instructions or error messages should be available in text (not just color cues). For example, don’t rely on a red border alone to indicate an error, you should also include a message like “Please fill out this field.” This helps users with visual impairments or color blindness know what’s required. Additionally, ensure the form can be navigated by keyboard and that the focus moves in a sensible order from field to field. User-friendly, accessible forms greatly improve the experience for users with cognitive or visual impairments and reduce frustration for everyone.

These steps cover some of the most common and impactful accessibility improvements. There are many more detailed techniques (like using proper HTML semantics, ARIA labels for complex widgets, avoiding content that flashes rapidly, etc.), but the list above hits the fundamentals: color, text alternatives, media captions, navigation, and forms. By addressing these areas, you’ll remove the majority of barriers that users with disabilities face on the web.

Importantly, accessibility is not a one-time project but an ongoing practice. Websites are living products because content gets updated, new features are added, designs get refreshed. It’s wise to build accessibility checks into your content publishing workflow and periodically re-audit your site. Implementing ongoing compliance monitoring (through regular scans or an accessibility monitoring service) can catch new issues before they accumulate. Training your staff or content editors on accessibility best practices is also invaluable, so that each new page or PDF or video they add meets standards.

As New Target advises our clients: launching an accessible site is the beginning, not the end, of the journey. Maintaining accessibility over time requires a bit of vigilance and a culture of inclusivity. The payoff, however, is well worth it: you’ll ensure that every visitor continues to be able to engage with your content, no matter what changes on your site.

Partner with New Target for Inclusive, Compliant Web Design

If WCAG requirements feel overwhelming, you don’t have to tackle accessibility alone. New Target has years of experience helping nonprofits, associations, and government agencies build compliant, high-performing websites. Our team ensures your site meets WCAG and Section 508 standards while remaining visually strong, fast, and easy for every visitor to use.

We start with a thorough accessibility audit, combining automated scans with hands-on testing using real assistive technologies. Then we implement the fixes: adding accurate alt text, correcting color contrast, improving page structure for screen readers, and ensuring captions or transcripts accompany your media. These improvements often enhance overall performance, producing cleaner code and a smoother user experience.

We also help you maintain long-term compliance with ongoing monitoring, CMS-integrated accessibility checks, and training for your editors. Accessibility isn’t a one-time project; it’s a sustainable practice that protects your organization and broadens your audience.

New Target can guide you through the entire process, turning compliance requirements into opportunities for better engagement and stronger SEO. Partner with us to build a digital experience that truly welcomes everyone. Let’s chat.