Level Access Review: The Right Choice for Your Web Accessibility Project?

Due to the growing prominence of accessibility lawsuits, more and more businesses are making web accessibility a top priority. However, compliance is not always an easy task to tackle on your own, which is why it helps to have some assistance.

Fortunately, there are a number of web accessibility solutions to choose from and one provider that stands out is Level Access.

Level Access specializes in helping you create experiences that are accessible to everyone, including those living with disabilities. However, is this the right solution for you?

In this review, we unpack the tools and services offered by Level Access, how they support compliance with web accessibility laws, and how they measure up in the greater web accessibility market.

About Level Access

Founded in 1999, Level Access has been focused solely on digital accessibility for more than 25 years.

Their goal is to equip organizations with the software, services, and training to make their digital experiences including websites, mobile apps, and documents accessible to people with disabilities.

At its core, Level Access provides an integrated software solution with tools to support every stage of the website or software development life cycle.

From understanding where you stand in relation to the latest web accessibility standards and helping you make the necessary updates to ensuring you have the right policies and programs in place, Level Access can assist you from start to finish.

Level Access Services and Solutions

Level Access supports digital accessibility for organizations across multiple industries in both the public and private sectors.

Its integrated platform provides a complete overview of your digital accessibility efforts—whether you’re managing a single website or a portfolio.

Let’s take a closer look at the different solutions and services on offer.

Auditing and Testing

With Level Access, there are two ways to test your digital experience – automated and manual. The automated auditing and testing tools can be used in your own time at any stage of the development process. However, there is also the option of handing your site over to a team of experts, including people with disabilities, who will manually test your site against the latest standards using assistive technology.

Automated Remediation and User Personalization

When you’re managing multiple sites or a website that is updated often, it can be difficult to stay on top of fixing accessibility issues. Level Access makes this easier with their automated remediation technology. This technology regularly scans your site for many common accessibility issues and automatically addressed them for end users, without the need for manual effort.

Level Access also offers optional user personalization tools, which give your users more power over their experience by allowing them to adjust color contrast, font size, and other aspects of the user interface.

VPATs & Legal Expertise

If you sell software products to government organizations, enterprises, or businesses in regulated industries, your customers may require documented proof of your product’s accessibility. This proof typically takes the form of a completed Voluntary Product
Accessibility Template (VPAT®).

However, a VPAT can be a complicated document, so it’s best to have expert assistance – something Level Access offers.

And, in the event that you ever run into legal issues related to web accessibility, Level Access is one of the few organizations that can provide you with legal assistance too. Their team can help validate any claims and develop a response strategy.

Training

Another notable service offered by Level Access is their training. The Level Access Academy provides on-demand, role-specific courses to help your team build on their knowledge of all things web accessibility, making it a lot easier to stay compliant and address issues as they arise. Live, expert-led training and certification options are also available.

Compliance

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title III of the ADA mandates equal access to “public accommodations” for people with disabilities, and has been widely interpreted by courts to apply to the websites of private businesses. Title II of the ADA, which applies to U.S. state and local governments, now includes specific web accessibility requirements aligned with WCAG.
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This law mandates that U.S. federal agencies develop, procure, and maintain accessible Information and Communications Technology (ICT). It also indirectly impacts federal government vendors.
• The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) (1). A Canadian provincial law, the AODA requires the accessibility of websites, web content, and web-based applications for Ontario-based public sector organizations, as well as certain commercial businesses.
• The European Accessibility Act (EAA)(2). This European Union (EU) Directive mandates that a range of commonly used consumer products and services, including eCommerce, banking, and transportation, are accessible to people with disabilities. It applies to EU-based businesses, as well as businesses outside of the EU that sell covered products and services to European consumers.

Customer Support

Level Access clients can engage with experts for support from technical guidance and fixing accessibility issues to helping with policy creation.

Level Access offers two channels for support. You can either submit an email request with your questions or you can schedule a live consultation, something that not many other providers offer.

Level Access Pros and Cons

Because of the services they offer, Level Access is a competent partner to help you in the complicated world of web accessibility compliance. Like other service providers though, Level Access has its own pros and cons.

Final Verdict

Level Access equips organizations with a comprehensive solution set to help them design, develop, and launch digital experiences that are accessible to everyone and remain compliant with legal mandates.

Level Access is a good solution partner for organizations looking to create a sustainable digital accessibility program, but might not be the right fit for smaller organizations with limited budgets.

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