Client & Context
WCAG compliance verification is the step most accessibility projects skip — and the step that separates “we fixed some issues” from “we can prove conformance.” A11Y Pros, a US-based accessibility agency led by Ryan Mack, brought HalfAccessible in across two engagements to provide exactly that proof for a client website.
The Challenge
The first engagement (February) called for a full website accessibility audit against WCAG 2.2 AA. The second (May–June) was the harder part: after the remediation work was completed, every original finding needed independent re-testing, and the final conformance position had to be documented in a VPAT that procurement teams would accept without follow-up questions.
Verification audits demand a different discipline than first-pass audits. Each issue must be re-tested in the exact context it was reported — same component, same assistive technology, same success criterion — and partial fixes have to be caught, not waved through.
Our WCAG Compliance Verification Process
We re-tested every finding manually using NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, and keyboard-only navigation, mapped each result to its WCAG 2.2 success criterion, and classified it as resolved, partially resolved, or regressed. Items that did not fully pass went back with precise, developer-ready guidance rather than vague “still failing” notes.
Once the verification pass was clean, we authored the VPAT (ACR) reflecting the verified state of the site — honest conformance claims, documented exceptions, and language procurement reviewers actually understand.
The Results
- Full WCAG 2.2 AA audit delivered with severity-ranked, developer-ready findings
- Independent verification of all remediation work, with partial fixes caught and resolved
- Procurement-ready VPAT delivered as the final compliance artifact
- Both contracts completed on time and rated 5.0 out of 5.0 on Upwork
For an accessibility agency, sub-contracting verification to a second set of certified eyes is also good governance: the team that fixes issues should not be the only team that signs off on them.
Why Independent Verification Matters
Remediation teams grade their own homework under deadline pressure, and it shows: in our verification work, a meaningful share of “fixed” issues turn out to be partially fixed — the contrast was corrected in one component but not its hover state, the ARIA label was added but announces the wrong thing, the keyboard trap moved instead of disappearing. None of this is bad faith. It is what happens when the same eyes that wrote the fix also sign off on it.
Independent WCAG compliance verification breaks that loop. A second certified tester re-runs each finding with fresh assistive technology sessions and no memory of how hard the fix was to write. The result either passes or it does not — and the VPAT that follows inherits that honesty.
What We Re-Test in Every Verification Pass
- Original failure context: same page, component, and interaction that produced the finding
- Screen reader output with NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver — names, roles, values, and announcements
- Complete keyboard journeys, including focus order, visible focus, and escape routes
- Adjacent regressions: fixes that broke something nearby, which happens more often than teams expect
- Conformance language: whether each VPAT claim still matches the verified behaviour
Agencies like A11Y Pros use this model because it scales trust: their clients receive a report that two independent specialists stand behind, and disputed findings get resolved with evidence instead of opinion. For procurement-bound products, that second signature is often the difference between a VPAT that closes the deal and one that triggers a vendor questionnaire.
Need Verification You Can Stand Behind?
If you have completed remediation and need independent WCAG compliance verification — or a VPAT backed by real testing — see our accessibility audit services and VPAT & ACR documentation, or request a free assessment. Every verification is performed by IAAP-certified specialists (CPWA, WAS, CPACC) and a DHS Trusted Tester.
