What is VPAT certification?
The term "VPAT certification" describes the practices and actions associated with the use of a voluntary product accessibility template (VPAT) to identify and remove obstacles that prevent people with disabilities from interacting with and using information and communication technology (ICT) products and services.
VPAT certification has surged to become a priority agenda due to the felt concerns about the exclusion that people with disabilities faced in many sectors of the economy, which negatively affected the quality of their lives and that of the general population.
With more than one billion people in the world and one in every four U.S. adults having a disability, any business that has not had its ICT products and services VPAT certified is losing out in a big way. That is because in the current competitive digital landscape, businesses that are making their stands on accessibility known through appropriate VPAT scoring approaches help their brands stand out.
For example, by clearly laying out your commitment to accessibility through an accessible VPAT 508 compliance certification that describes the areas that you’re working to improve in your ICT products and services, your business may reduce the risk of lawsuits about the accessibility of your products and services.
The VPAT assessments that form part of the VPAT certification processes help a business identify critical accessibility issues in their products or services, which enables it to put in place mechanisms to deal with the accessibility barriers.
These efforts are included in the VPAT accessibility conformance report (ACR) and are enough to dissuade plaintiffs looking for easy targets to institute accessibility non-compliance lawsuits.
Registering for VPAT certification
VPAT certification is open to any business that wants to demonstrate commitment to accessibility as well as make efforts to make sure that its products and services are accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability or disability.
Here are the steps to follow to register your ICT product or service for VPAT certification:
- Download the VPAT form.
You can download the correct edition of the VPAT form free of charge from the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) website.
If the product or service you want to get a VPAT certification for has a website for a web-based product or service, you should download the VPAT Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) edition.
If the ICT product or service you want to get a VPAT certification for is intended for sale to the U.S. federal government, then you should download the VPAT 508 edition or the VPAT International (INT) edition.
If the product or service you’re offering is for sale in Europe, you should download the VPAT EU edition, which is founded on the European Union’s EN 301 549 accessibility standards for publicly procurable ICT.
- Perform the requisite VPAT assessments.
The next step after downloading the appropriate VPAT form is to conduct an evaluation of the targeted product or service based on the technical specifications and requirements provided in the downloaded VPAT document. The evaluation will enable you decide on the appropriate VPAT passing score under each accessibility requirement.
The assessments could be manual or online tool-based. Manual audits need to be done by someone with experience and sound domain knowledge about accessibility. Online tool-based VPAT testing should not be over-relied upon because it tends to have an accuracy of about 30%.
- Fill out the VPAT report
Once you’re done with VPAT assessments, you should use the collected data to fill out the VPAT form and generate a VPAT ACR. Completing a VPAT ACR should be done objectively, truthfully, and accurately. Every fillable section of the form should be filled out.
- Make the VPAT report publicly accessible
It is the making of a product's or service’s VPAT ACR publicly accessible that amounts to the completion of VPAT certification for the product or service. A VPAT ACR can be made accessible by posting it on the business’ website or by making it available to anyone who requests it.
Need help with VPAT certification for your product or service?
VPAT certification may not be a walk in the park for people who are not knowledgeable about accessibility. That is why many businesses opt to hire a third-party VPAT certification service provider like ADACP to help them go through the certification process from start to finish.
If you need help with VPAT certification for your products or services, call (626) 486-220 to speak with an accessibility expert. Consultations are always free.