What Does ADA Compliance Remediation Involve?

Making your website accessible isn’t just a legal requirement; it’s a commitment to inclusivity, user experience, and long-term digital success. As more businesses face lawsuits and public scrutiny over inaccessible websites, the need for ADA compliance remediation has never been more urgent. But what does ADA compliance remediation involve exactly?

This article breaks down what is the remediation process, showing you what to expect, how it works, and why it’s essential. Whether you’re a business owner seeking to mitigate ADA legal risks, a marketer enhancing customer access, or a developer tasked with resolving code issues, this guide will help you understand the comprehensive scope of ADA website remediation, encompassing technical tasks, content adjustments, and ongoing monitoring.

ADA Website Remediation: Core Tasks and Goals

At its core, ADA website remediation is identifying and correcting the elements on your website that prevent people with disabilities from accessing content or completing tasks. This includes addressing issues that impact screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, visual contrast, and other critical areas outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The primary goal of website remediation is to make your digital experience perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for all users, regardless of ability. That means ensuring your site is functional across various assistive technologies and input methods.

Typical remediation tasks include:

• Adding descriptive alt text to images
• Ensuring links and buttons are clearly labeled
• Improving color contrast between text and backgrounds
• Making sure forms are accessible and properly tagged
• Correcting HTML structure for logical navigation and reading order

Whether starting from scratch or updating an existing site, the remediation process ensures your site meets accessibility standards and avoids costly compliance issues. Just as importantly, it removes digital barriers, opening your brand to a broader audience.

Website Remediation: Code, Content, and Design Fixes

Website remediation encompasses multiple layers of your site, including code, content, and design. Each plays a role in creating an accessible experience, and remediation requires addressing all three to meet compliance standards.

Code Fixes

Clean, semantic HTML is essential for screen readers and other assistive technologies. Remediation may involve:

• Structuring content with proper heading levels
• Adding ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes for dynamic content
• Ensuring all interactive elements (like dropdowns or modals) are accessible via keyboard
• Fixing broken or redundant HTML that may confuse screen readers

Content Fixes

Content must be explicit, descriptive, and adaptable for assistive devices. This includes:

• Writing meaningful alt text for images
• Ensuring link text clearly describes its destination
• Adding captions and transcripts for videos
• Avoiding vague directional cues (like “click here”) without context

Design Fixes

The visual presentation of your site also impacts accessibility. Common design-focused tasks in website remediation include:

• Improving contrast between text and background colors
• Enlarging small fonts and maintaining readable line spacing
• Avoiding reliance on color alone to convey information
• Ensuring responsive design works across devices and screen sizes

These updates help users with visual, auditory, and motor impairments navigate your site with ease. When done correctly, web accessibility remediation enhances usability for all visitors, not just those with disabilities.

Web Accessibility Remediation: What It Looks Like in Practice

So, what does web accessibility remediation look like when you’re in the middle of it? In practice, it’s a structured, step-by-step process that starts with discovery and ends with ongoing testing and validation. Whether you’re remediating in-house or working with an outside vendor, expect a mix of audits, collaboration, and implementation sprints.

Step 1: Accessibility Audit

The process begins with a thorough website accessibility audit, which can be conducted manually, automatically, or as a hybrid approach. This audit identifies current violations of WCAG standards and prioritizes issues by severity and user impact.

Step 2: Task Planning

Once the issues are identified, your team (or an agency like Oyova) will break the work into manageable tasks. Each task typically corresponds to a specific WCAG success criterion, such as ensuring all images follow alt text best practices or improving focus visibility for interactive elements.

Step 3: Cross-Functional Remediation

Developers, designers, and content creators collaborate to fix their respective areas. This might involve:

• Updating templates and components in your CMS
• Rewriting or replacing inaccessible content
• Adjusting stylesheets for better readability and keyboard focus
• Implementing ARIA roles and landmarks where needed

Step 4: Validation and Testing

Once updates are made, your team retests using automated ADA scan tools and assistive technologies (such as screen readers). Every fix is validated to ensure compliance and functional usability.

Step 5: Documentation and Training

Remediation doesn’t end when the site “passes.” Teams document what was fixed, establish accessibility guidelines, and often hold internal training to prevent regressions.

In short, web accessibility remediation is less about patching isolated problems and more about integrating accessibility into your development workflow. It’s a collaborative effort that requires attention to detail and a commitment to inclusive design.

The WCAG Remediation Process: Accessibility Benchmarks

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are at the heart of any ADA website remediation effort. These internationally recognized standards define what it means for web content to be accessible to people with a range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments.

WCAG is organized around four foundational principles, often referred to as POUR:

• Perceivable: Information must be presentable in ways users can perceive (e.g., alt text for images, captions for videos).
• Operable: Users must be able to navigate the site regardless of their input method (e.g., keyboard-only access, visible focus states).
• Understandable: Content must be readable and predictable (e.g., clear headings, consistent navigation).
• Robust: Content must work across different technologies, including assistive devices (e.g., semantic HTML, ARIA roles).

The most common benchmark for legal and practical compliance is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This level covers critical accessibility issues without requiring some of the more advanced features of Level AAA.

During the WCAG remediation process, each identified issue is mapped back to a specific WCAG success criterion. For example:

• Missing alt text: WCAG 1.1.1: Non-text Content
• Poor color contrast: WCAG 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum)
• Inaccessible forms: WCAG 3.3.1: Error Identification and 3.3.2: Labels or Instructions

Meeting these benchmarks requires more than checking boxes. It means making your digital content work for real people in real-world scenarios. WCAG compliance is both a technical standard and a user-centered practice, and it’s central to any successful remediation strategy.

Manual vs. Automated ADA Website Fixes

One of the most common questions in ADA website remediation is whether the process can be automated. While automated tools can help identify accessibility issues quickly, they’re not a complete solution. Remediation still requires human review, interpretation, and hands-on fixes.

Automated Tools: Fast but Limited

Tools like WAVE, axe DevTools, and Lighthouse scan your website for common WCAG violations such as missing alt text, low contrast, or improper heading structure. These tools are great for:

• Quickly identifying obvious issues
• Running large-scale scans across multiple pages
• Establishing baseline accessibility metrics

However, automated tools often miss context-based or dynamic issues, like:

• Inaccessible form labels
• Improper focus management in modals
• Inconsistent or vague link text
• Poor screen reader experience with custom widgets

Manual Fixes: Deeper, More Accurate

Manual testing and remediation involve using assistive technologies (like screen readers and keyboard navigation) to simulate how users with disabilities interact with your site. This human-centered approach allows teams to:

• Interpret how content flows semantically
• Assess interactive behaviors and error messaging
• Ensure real usability beyond technical compliance

Manual work is vital for WCAG criteria that rely on judgment, such as clarity of instructions or logical reading order.

Hybrid Approach: The Smartest Option

The most effective website remediation strategy for most organizations combines automated tools with manual testing. Automation speeds up discovery, while human review ensures accuracy and usability. It’s not a choice between one or the other; it’s a workflow that maximizes both strengths.

How Long Does ADA Website Remediation Take

The timeline for website remediation depends on the size, content, and complexity of your site’s existing issues. Small sites may take a couple of weeks, while larger platforms can require several months to complete. Factors such as interactive elements, poor code structure, and team experience can impact speed. Even after fixes are made, ongoing monitoring is essential for long-term compliance.

Web Accessibility Tools That Support Remediation

Using the right tools can streamline web accessibility remediation, but they are most effective when integrated into a broader strategy, rather than serving as a substitute for manual review.

Popular ADA tools include:

• axe DevTools – Browser extension that scans for WCAG issues in real time.
• WAVE – Highlights accessibility errors and alerts directly on your web page.
• Siteimprove – Offers ongoing monitoring, reports, and task management for remediation teams.
• Lighthouse – Built into Chrome DevTools for performance and accessibility audits.

These tools help detect missing alt text, contrast errors, and improper heading structure. However, they can’t fully assess user experience or complex interactions. Manual validation remains essential for tasks such as screen reader navigation, keyboard focus, and form labeling.

When used correctly, accessibility tools accelerate issue discovery, track progress, and support better compliance; however, human expertise is what ultimately connects everything.

Ongoing Web Accessibility Remediation: Beyond the Fixes

ADA compliance isn’t a one-time project; it’s a continuous commitment. Once your initial web accessibility remediation is complete, the work shifts to maintenance.

New content, updates, and design changes can all introduce fresh accessibility issues. That’s why ongoing practices matter, including:

• Regular audits to catch new compliance gaps
• Accessibility checklists for content creators and developers
• Monitoring tools to flag errors as they arise
• Team training to build long-term awareness and accountability

Maintaining accessibility isn’t just about staying compliant; it’s about ensuring every user has a barrier-free experience as your site evolves.

How Oyova Supports Effective ADA Website Remediation

At Oyova, we help businesses simplify the complex process of ADA website remediation. Our team works closely with you to identify issues, implement WCAG-compliant fixes, and build accessibility into your site’s long-term strategy.

Our services include:

• Comprehensive accessibility audits (manual and hybrid)
• Remediation planning with prioritized task lists
• Code, design, and content updates aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA
• Ongoing monitoring and support to maintain compliance over time

We bring together experienced developers, strategists, and accessibility specialists to streamline your workflow and accelerate results, without compromising quality or user experience.

Contact us and get started with ADA website remediation today!