Questions?

No, the shield is to show your commitment to compliance. It also has been known to ward off drive-by lawyers.

As you go through the AAAtraq program you will be guided through a set of steps. One of these steps will contain the detail on how to add the shield to your website.

The shield appears on the homepage to any individual visitor only once a month, so as not to be too intrusive.

AAAtraq is not a diagnostic service. The shield is presented to show your commitment to website accessibility compliance.

The shield must be displayed on your accessibility, however it is optional on your homepage. To do this, please update the settings within your AAAtraq account. Once logged in, go to ‘Your account’, click the ‘Site tag’ option and under the ‘Shield Display’ option, untick the box in the ‘Homepage’ line.

Yes, you can add your accessibility page at any point in the process.

When logged into your AAAtraq account, you will see your initials in a circle in the top right corner. Select this and go to ‘Your account’. From here select 'Site tag’ in the menu. You’ll be displayed with a screenshot of your site, to the right of this you’ll see ‘Accessibility’ and then to the right there is an ‘Add’ button. Select this and enter your accessibility page.

An accessibility statement is a page on your website where you can declare your accessibility compliance and demonstrate where you are with it.

It’s important as drive-by lawyers often look for such a page on your website and without one you’re not setting out your compliance status and therefore purring yourself at higher risk of litigation.

Within the AAAtraq program, we ask you to confirm the status of your Accessibility Statement. We also provide a draft for you to review and consider including on your website if you don’t have one.

AAAtraq will give you suggestions and best practice, and our monitoring ensures a compliant Accessibility Statement is a priority.

Yes, AAAtraq is designed to compliment diagnostic tools, we do not replace them. AAAtraq provides monitoring for your ADA risk level as well as processes to reduce your risk of litigation and provides unique costs coverage insurance.

No, we do not provide remedial services. Fixing the website is very important, but this needs to be dealt with in a prioritised manner which mitigates risks and is monitored on an ongoing basis.

Once logged into your AAAtraq dashboard, use the ‘Account’ button under the screenshot of the website. Click the ‘password’ option and follow the onscreen prompts.

Head to www.AAAtraq.com/reset/ (opens in a new window) and follow the onscreen prompts. You will be sent an email with details on how to reset your password.

No, we are not a diagnostic testing tool, AAAtraq is a process which guides you through steps to mitigate against the risk of ADA website litigation.

Part of the solution is the scanning (diagnostic testing) to ensure efforts are focused and the relevant people know what to fix.

The AAAtraq service is a step-by-step process making online accessibility easier to monitor and to mitigate to risk of litigation associated with non-compliance.

The monthly inclusion summary is a report on your site which we complete every month. The Inclusion Score in this report is based on your website as a whole, not just individual pages, for example your homepage. You will be emailed with the results and it is available from your AAAtraq dashboard using the ‘Monthly Inclusion Summary’ link.

You will get a weekly and monthly update from AAAtraq. We will also alert you to any priority actions via email as and when appropriate.

Once logged into the AAAtraq dashboard, click the ‘People’ icon under the screenshot of your website. You will be displayed with the existing people added to your service, you can edit or remove these people from this page. To add, new details, on this page, click the ‘Add’ from the top right and follow the onscreen prompts.

AAAtraq is not a supported service, all the help you need is in this FAQ guide.

AAAtraq is not a detailed diagnostic service and is designed to complement such tools.

We provide you with the risk level of your website and guide you through a set of steps to mitigate the risk. However, you will still need technical assistance to fix corrections that diagnostic tools detect.

Once you’ve subscribed, you’ll have access to our program and be guided through the steps, within a week you could have $10,000 of costs coverage insurance and it’ll only take around an hour of your time!

AAAtraq is priced to be an online only self-supported service, for those looking at, and managing the risk of ADA litigation. The detail of diagnostics is a different service.

All the answers you need are provided in this FAQ.

You may find your web server or ISP blocks some or all of the requests that AAAtraq sends, especially if you are using a CDN or bot-blocker such as Cloudflare or Akamai in “paranoid” mode. This will prevent AAAtraq from assessing your site properly. To solve this you should white-list AAAtraq’s requests to your site.

Most web publishing solutions will allow you to easily white-list requests by the IP address they come from. To white-list AAAtraq requests you should list all of the following IP addresses:

• 54.152.153.32 (a.public.dexter.aaatraq.com)
• 3.211.3.36 (b.public.dexter.aaatraq.com)
• 54.80.170.148 (c.public.dexter.aaatraq.com)

Alternatively, and in some ways preferably, you may be able to white-list by searching the User-Agent request header. If so, you should match on any agent containing the following sub-string:

• dexter/

If you need help with setting up white-listing, please contact your vendor or department which handles your web hosting - they should find it very straightforward to assist you given a link to these instructions. Please note that you may need to add white-listing in more than one place - e.g. at the web server, on a load balancer, at your CDN.

AAAtraq, first and foremost, is to be used to support those who manage risk, and then direct the technical staff (and vendors) to address key issues in a prioritized, time-effective manner.

One example is within our ‘Check 3-things’ we look at Alt text, Form field labels and link text.

This is something that is very important, and you need to have a way not just to report but to monitor, ensuring issues are prioritized and then fixed.

AAAtraq is not a diagnostic testing service, your web/technical team is likely to have their own preferred service which will provide this detail. AAAtraq provides the monitoring.

No, we use automation, based on over 3.6 trillion data points and over 18 year’s experience.

AAAtraq uses automation but it is not a diagnostic testing tool, in most instances web teams have their own testing service. Our tool uses automation. We are a Risk Control Program which as far as we’re aware is the only service of it’s kind and includes costs coverage insurance.

AAAtraq is not a tool for the web team to use to scan the website. There are many tools which provide Accessibility testing, however the problem lies with actioning the issues raised in the reports.

The AAAtraq program prioritizes website content based on consumption, and the corresponding corrective activity appropriately.

The key to removing risk is the accountability in actioning the corrections ‘once’ in order to remove future failures (stop fixing the same problem) and holding to account those who commit to compliance.

There are many companies who make compliance promises – a web search of ‘accessiBe will get you sued’ may answer your question.

Ask any provider who is committing to any level of compliance for an indemnity against litigation.

Focus on removing the risk not chasing compliance. There are no quick wins: too many people are looking for technology that can provide the silver bullet, but in reality, what you need to aim for is training staff and ensuring accountability from vendors and those fixing the highlighted issues.

Some plugins and overlays promise a ‘one time’ solution to website accessibility issues, but sadly this just isn’t enough to ensure you are compliant with the ADA regulations.

While it would be great if it was as easy as simply installing a plugin or adding one piece of code. Unfortunately this just isn’t the case. Compliance needs to be managed on an ongoing basis, with the issues addressed at the root causes.

Some plugins are so well known as being non-compliant that lawyers are deliberately seeking out websites that use them in their search for potential litigation targets.

AAAtraq will work through your website in a prioritized manner, understanding assets of all types over time. The starting point of PDF compliance is how they are created, and we provide an introduction at the appropriate stage.

Basic fixes can be identified, but PDF remediation can be as unique as the content they contain, with each one requiring a differing, unique fix. The key is to understand what assets (PDFs etc.) you have, their level of compliance, and have effective contracts with remediation providers.

Once your vendor has been added in AAAtraq, further in the process you will be prompted to notify them of your policies.

The vendor will then be informed of the policy via email - their acceptance or otherwise will then be recorded.

You are responsible for the content on your website, the rules do not look at reasons why the content is there, who owns it etc., it is on your site, so it’s your responsibility and needs to comply.

Visitors to your site don't know if content is from a third party, nor do the ‘Drive-By Lawyers’. Every third party who provides content or services for your website, should be added as vendors in AAAtraq, this will make them aware of their need to adhere to compliance standards. If they can’t you have to either remove their content, or risk litigation.

With regards to claims from vendors regarding compliance capabilities, this is not an area, we are able to comment on.

When a vendor is added to the AAAtraq system, they will be sent copies of the policies you set within AAAtraq, this includes their adherence to compliance and compliance capabilities. They, as the vendor, have to be the ones responsible for understanding any compliance failures for content, services, products etc. that they supply. You may find that at this stage vendors may protest (trying to protect their position), however, we are the ones providing costs coverage insurance and if we are finding failures, the lawyers will also, and they’ll use these failures as a basis of an ADA claim.

Our role is to provide you with a path and steps to follow to ensure: a) staff are trained, and; b) vendors / those doing the work are accountable (delivering on their claims).

The AAAtraq service is not a diagnostic testing tool, such tools are something the vendor must already have in place to lay claim of delivering WCAG compliance (perhaps an ‘inbuilt accessibility checker’).

We have found that in some cases, the vendors' answer to compliance was blocking our audits, and we have information to believe this is still the case.

In such instances, we would suggest you ask the vendor to confirm their claim in writing, this should detail their full WCAG compliance commitment. You should also clarify the support they will provide you in the event of any ADA claims, and to provide an indemnity against litigation (costs and remediation).

Vendors have the responsibility to deliver a compliant website - there are no questions for them to respond to / data requests. They are just asked to confirm their ability to adhere to web standards and deliver complaint services.

When logged into the AAAtraq dashboard, click the ‘Vendors’ button under the screenshot. You will then be displayed with your existing vendors, click ‘Edit’ next to the relevant vendor you want to amend and click ‘Archive’ at the bottom of the following screen.

AAAtraq is not a diagnostic testing tool, your vendors should have such services in place - we are reporting on the state of compliance and advising you. The vendor is responsible for their own actions, and how they achieve compliance. The challenge comes as vendors do not like AAAtraq, it is often the the first time they will have been challenged and a level of accountability applied.

We do not provide fixes, but as a AAAtraq subscriber, we continually monitor your website.

During the process, you will be promoted to add in your vendors. Vendors will be sent copies of your policies which can be tracked in the AAAtraq system. Vendors, and third parties will generally have their own testing service where they can get the detail on what needs to be fixed.

When logged into the AAAtraq dashboard, click the ‘Vendors’ button under the screenshot and then on the next screen, use the ‘Add’ button in the top right. Follow the prompts and enter in the vendors details. Ensure you send them a copy of your policy at the end.

71% of organisations either don’t realise they have to deal with accessibility, or believe they are already compliant and have website accessibility in hand. Some have been told they are compliant by vendors or some accessibility solutions such as plugins, widgets and overlays. However, we’ve found that 94% of websites are not compliant, even if they have been told otherwise!

It's similar to the builder of my new house wanting to sign off their own work….. Too many vendors, service providers and consultants object to clients having our service. A good starting point is assessing the risk of your website yourself, at least you’ll start off with an independent view. It's your responsibility to ensure you’re ADA compliant.

You can pay via card on either a monthly or annual basis.

Simply fill in the details in the form accessed from this page www.AAAtraq.com/subscribe/ (opens in a new window)

There are many elements to the AAAtraq service, including: • Risk reporting • Risk mitigation • Vendor management • Costs coverage • Claims management.

Once logged into your AAAtraq dashboard, use the ‘Account’ button under the screenshot of the website. Click the ‘Billing info’ tab and click the ‘Update payment card’ link and follow the onscreen prompts.

Once logged into your AAAtraq dashboard, use the ‘Account’ button under the screenshot of the website. Then select the ‘History’ tab and select ‘Invoices’. You will be displayed with a list of your invoices which you can view and download by clicking on the ‘Invoice’ link in the ‘Info column.

One of the cornerstones of ensuring you continue to deliver the best possible, compliant online experience is verification of the standards service providers and vendors operate against.

Within the AAAtraq program, you will be prompted to create your own policy, we provide draft text to start this. There are four sections to the policy, starting with Purpose, followed by Expectations, then Standards and finally Reporting.

Your vendors are then informed of these policies, and their acceptance or otherwise being recorded.

When logged into the AAAtraq dashboard, click the ‘Policies’ button under the screenshot. You will then be displayed with your existing policies. You can click the links on the right of the box to add, edit and remove policies.

As you go through the steps, you will be awarded with stars, which in turn denote your level of costs coverage insurance, which are as follows:

• 0 Stars - US$2,500
• 1 Star - US$10,000
• 2 Stars - US$25,000
• 3 Stars or above - US$50,000

There is no deductible with AAAtraq.

Once you’re subscribed, you get $2,500. Coverage increases as you make progress through the steps.

Please see our Terms & Conditions for full details www.AAAtraq.com/terms/ (opens in a new window).

The standards are the same, however, our checking is the most through (which is one of the reasons why we are able to arrange insurance coverage) We have been providing automated testing for 20+ years and have 3.7 trillion data points. More details on the differences between our tools and others can be found at: https://AAAtraq.com/faq/#how-does-aaatraq-compare-differentiate-other-ad (opens in a new window)

In recent years, lots of companies have jumped on the band wagon of automated testing and promise a lot. We are not liked by many vendors, our capabilities means it can be the first time that service providers can be held to account.

AAAtraq is not a diagnostic testing service, your web/technical team is likely to have their own preferred service which will provide this detail. AAAtraq provides the monitoring.

We’ve discuss about the differences between ours and other tools, you can view that here: https://AAAtraq.com/faq/#how-does-aaatraq-compare-differentiate-other-ad (opens in a new window)

We often here that vendors deny there are issues with their work, we only report the facts. Our sister service Sitemorse (opens in a new window) has some of the most thorough capabilities available on the market in terms of diagnostic details. By running the pages with the errors through their free checker (opens in a new window), you can see the detail down to the line in the code.

We’ve discuss about the differences between ours and other tools, you can view that here: https://AAAtraq.com/faq/#how-does-aaatraq-compare-differentiate-other-ad (opens in a new window)

We often here that vendors deny there are issues with their work, we only report the facts.

Our sister service Sitemorse (opens in a new window) has some of the most thorough capabilities available on the market in terms of diagnostic details. By running the pages with the errors through their free checker (opens in a new window), you can see the detail down to the line in the code.

Your web/technical team may already have their preferred service.

Our sister service Sitemorse (opens in a new window) has some of the most thorough capabilities available on the market.

The Sitemorse service can be limited in terms of some sites as some block country-based access.

However, web teams, developers and vendors etc. should have their own testing tools.

We offer the Sitemorse checker as our own FREE testing tool and the AAAtraq checker if you want to see the results on a page by page basis. Remember, AAAtraq is a monitoring tool – it’s not going to fix your website for you.

In the same way you are responsible for fixtures and fitting for your building, you are also responsible for ensuring the compliance of additions to your website. There are many other examples of site components, tools or even platforms that are the cause of your failure.

Despite claims, promises or commitments made by vendors, they should be first added to your AAAtraq service, they can then be informed of their compliance obligations.

Where third parties refuse to, are not able to or cannot achieve compliance, it is at your discretion as to if you should retain their services – we cannot provide coverage for you if your site (content or additions) are failing compliance, even more so, if you are aware of such. We appreciate that changing vendors may be distracting, but we don’t make the rules and compliance isn’t an optional ‘nice to have’.

The other scenario is vendor disputes when approached about a lack of compliance stemming from issues reported by our own or other tools / services. Your option is to ask them to confirm this position, and ensure they protect you with litigation coverage.

In short, from feedback and testing such services are not as thorough as ours, For the tool mention, we believe behind the scenes it uses the same engine as the accessiBe system. Google ‘accessiBe will get you sued’ for your own research on this area.

One of the reasons we are more thorough, this tool (like most of the checkers) are based on the legacy method of reading the code of the page, and not operating the page. We do the latter and are therefore able to see as more more and therefore our audits are more stringent. This makes it is much easier to pass other tests rather than ours.

Firstly, executives must ensure that ADA awareness is organization-wide. This is not just the web team’s responsibility.

It’s important that webmasters have the skills to manage this – ADA litigation is not going away, every organization needs to be self-supporting.

We do not teach webmasters how to fix issues, however, we do provide informational support videos about what some of the fixes relate to, for example, alt text.

We see this too often these days where suppliers guarantee compliance However, the responsibility comes down to the organization.

Risk Managers need a report that they can understand, and the stark reality is that vendors say they guarantee compliance, but rarely actually are.

AAAtraq gives you independent monitoring, providing a holistic view.

Through the AAAtraq process, you will complete a number of steps. Once an appropriate number of steps are completed you will be awarded with stars, which in turn denote your level of costs coverage insurance, which are as follows:

• 0 Stars - US$2,500
• 1 Star - US$10,000
• 2 Stars - US$25,000
• 3 Stars or above - US$50,000

Even if you have a new website in the pipeline, you still need to follow the AAAtraq steps, a demand is a demand.

If your vendors have changed since you initially entered in their details into AAAtraq, you can update these with the portal. Please see the answer to ‘How can I add more vendors (opens in a new window)’

Your home and accessibility pages are constantly monitored by AAAtraq, so ensure these are as compliant as possible.

This action is about understanding the compliance for your top 10 pages of your site, to improve the experience for all visitors.

This step will display the ‘Compliance score’ for each of these pages. The Compliance score is about the material impact of digital inclusion, not just technical testing.

To complete this task, your top 10 pages need to score under 13, (in the green zone). We present the Compliance score as an immediate understanding of the level of risk. Your web team should be made aware to make improvements using their own current web testing tools/methods. You can assign this task to a person, using the ‘Assign’ button below the table.

However, if your team don’t have their own tool, or you would like to see down to the line in the code, please use the complimentary Sitemorse assessment accessible in the links in the table below. In summary, if you are non-technical and want to view content issues, please visit AAAtraq.com/check (opens in a new window). For diagnostics details, please use Sitemorse.com/check (opens in a new window).

There are also a number of manual checks (not provided by AAAtraq or Sitemorse) which your web staff / digital service provider should be aware of separately. Once these have been reviewed, please click to confirm for each of the pages listed in the step that the manual checks have been completed.

We check every day if the pages have gone under 13. If you’ve made change to the pages, check back the next day to see how they now score, you can also check their score by enter the page on www.AAAtraq.com/check/ (opens in a new window)

No, this is not currently an option. However, you can see the history of your account by selecting the ‘Account’ tab on your AAAtraq dashboard under the screenshot of your website and then selecting the ‘History’ tab.

This is optional, and not mandatory, so you can skip this action during the star process.

This action is about understanding the compliance for the homepage and accessibility page of your site, to improve the experience for all visitors.

This step will display the ‘Compliance score’ for these pages. The Compliance score is about the material impact of digital inclusion, not just technical testing.

To complete this task, these pages need to score under 13, (in the green zone). We present the Compliance score as an immediate understanding of the level of risk. Your web team should be made aware to make improvements using their own current web testing tools/methods. You can assign this task to a person, using the ‘Assign’ button below the table.

However, if your team don’t have their own tool, or you would like to see down to the line in the code, please use the complimentary Sitemorse assessment accessible in the links in the table below. In summary, if you are non-technical and want to view content issues, please visit AAAtraq.com/check (opens in a new window). For diagnostics details, please use Sitemorse.com/check (opens in a new window).

There are also a number of manual checks (not provided by AAAtraq or Sitemorse) which your web staff / digital service provider should be aware of separately. Once these have been reviewed, please click to confirm for each of the pages listed in the step that the manual checks have been completed.

The AAAtraq steps process is an automated process and we cannot manually move you up to the next star.

If you are struggling to get to the next star you may need to speak to your web team/developers about the outstanding actions within your own dashboard.

Everyone! Taking the ADA for example, it applies to both public entities and private businesses:

• Title II of the ADA applies to state and local governments, and public entities such as municipal organizations and public-school districts and colleges.
• Title III of the ADA applies to private businesses open to the public such as retail shops, hotels, restaurants and privately funded educational institutions

There’s also the other pieces of federal and state legislation mentioned on the previous slide.

All organizations around bound under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, which prohibits discrimination against those with disabilities by both businesses, and public entities. Every organization faces a stark choice - comply or await litigation, and then comply.

In California, there is also the Unruh Civil Right Act which applies to all business in California and prohibits them from engaging in unlawful discrimination against anybody within California's jurisdiction.

There’s also Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1972 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which protect disabled individuals in the educational environment.

Internationally the rules are mainly based on the global standard, presently WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (2.2), with some countries also adopting aXe. Our auditing can look at both.

No country is ‘stricter’, the US has the highest levels of litigation as it is far easier to issue a demand and defense costs are a lot more, so it ends up being easier wins for lawyers.

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is the US law that uses WCAG as it basis, but each country has its own law.

Website non-compliance has become a reality in the US as organizations struggle to meet their legal obligations to limit online discrimination. Litigation is rife, and at the current rate of growth, every organization could see a claim in the next four years. Every organization faces a stark choice - comply or await litigation, and then comply.

Website accessibility can be complicated and technical. AAAtraq was designed so that everyone can understand their level of risk of litigation. It’s key to remember, the law itself is actually proving that your organization can demonstrate reasonable adjustment to people living with disabilities, not just compliance to a standard.

Website non-compliance has become a reality in the US as organizations struggle to meet their legal and moral obligations. Litigation is rife, and at the current rate of growth, every organization could see a claim in the next four years.

Website accessibility can be complicated and technical, and it’s not just a web team risk, it should be seen as an organization wide risk. The risk is not just associated with finances, there is also the time waisted dealing with claims to consider.

Any public entity that receives federal funding is legally required to ensure that their website is compliant with accessibility regulations in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The same rules apply to anyone who does business with a federal agency.

Yes, you can’t say anyone accessing the area won’t have disabilities, and therefore the ADA still applies.