What is a VPAT? How to fill out a VPAT?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act protects the rights of barrier free access to digital information of the disabled population. According to the law, any business entity working with a US federal agency needs to comply with Section 508.
In order to demonstrate their compliance, businesses and organizations fill out a voluntary template, which is known as VPAT or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template.
It is a self-assessment procedure to showcase accountability towards the disabled population. While filling out the Ada Compliance, you should be analyzing everything related to software, hardware and any other electronic content used for the business.
What is A VPAT?
A VPAT is support documentation provided by vendors to showcase their accountability and compliance. It is developed by ITIC (Information Technology Industry Council). Based on the market categories and accessibility standards, there are 4 types of VPAT formats created by ITI.
- Revised Section 508 standards
- EN 301549
- WCAG
- INT
INT is a universal VPAT that incorporates the standards of all the above mentioned guidelines. Using all found ensures that a vendor is compliant with Section 508 along with the frameworks provided by European Union services and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
What are the objectives of Vpat Assessment ?
As discussed above, a VPAT is a way to demonstrate compliance with Section 508. However, that doesn’t mean that a VPAT is mandatory for only those who receive funding from federal agencies.
Apart from government agencies and private agencies that receive funds from the federal government, any other business entity that is left in the US should also be following the VPAT filing procedure. There are countless reasons that every business entity should be using the self-assessment tool called VPAT.
- It provides a vendor competitive advantage over others who are not compliant with Section 508 or not showcasing their compliance standards.
- A VPAT improves the accessibility features of a product/service and makes the vendors search for areas of improvement to get better.
- A VPAT also offers compliance with WCAG guidelines, thus VPAT testing allows vendors to minimize the risk of penalty and lawsuit that might occur due to violations of the ADA (Americans with Disability Act).
How to conduct the VPAT testing?
VPAT templates are free to use and can be downloaded from the official website of ITI. Although, it is important to conduct an in-depth analysis of the electronic content to present an honest VPAT.
To assess the confirmation of the Section 508 standards, a VPAT can be used to demonstrate four different levels ranging from complete support to partial support and not applicable.
VPAT testing requires detailed information about the electronic content and hardware and software. So make sure that your VPAT is filled by an expert. If your in-house team is not backed with the required accessibility guidelines, you can contact a third-party specialist.
These accessibility specialists conduct a thorough analysis to make sure that your offerings are assessed based on every criteria mentioned in the VPAT. In order to complete a VPAT test and generate the ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report), contact the experts at the link given below.