Goal
The goal seemed simple on paper: Achieve accessibility certification for our software product platform, meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, and deliver a VPAT and ACR. As a strong motivation, our largest client mandated full compliance by the end of the year to match their global accessibility goal across their whole ecosystem.
But anyone who's walked this path knows — accessibility isn’t a checkbox. It’s a transformation. And it impacts every pixel, every interaction, and every voice behind the scenes.
The Challenge Behind the Challenge
Our core product was enormous - hundreds of pages, dozens of features, and multiple scrum teams of developers, designers, and product owners all moving in different lanes.
Organizing this effort wasn't just about knowing the standards. It was about orchestrating people, processes, and priorities at a scale where things easily slip through the cracks.
The Obstacles
- Finding and fixing complex accessibility issues across a massive, content-rich platform.
- Finding and fixing complex accessibility issues across a massive, content-rich platform.
- Maintaining momentum and clarity across teams with different levels of accessibility knowledge.
- Balancing tight product roadmaps with the slower, detailed work of manual accessibility testing.
And most importantly, making sure we weren’t just “checking boxes” — but creating real, meaningful access for all users.
Solution
We knew this wasn’t a sprint — it would take a year of steady, deliberate work.
Our plan unfolded in phases:
Audit: We started with deep accessibility scans using tools like Axe and Cypress, combined with manual keyboard and screen reader testing.
Remediate: We tackled the biggest barriers first — color contrast issues, keyboard traps, missing labels — then moved methodically through more nuanced accessibility gaps.
Educate and Align: Throughout the process, we coached our teams, helping everyone from developers to product managers understand not just what to fix, but why it mattered.
Document: As we progressed, we meticulously tracked every fix, building toward the final deliverables: the VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) and the ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report).
I became the company's de facto accessibility expert — not just testing and fixing, but advocating for a culture of inclusion at every design review, sprint planning, and QA check.
The Bigger Picture and the Result
We often say "accessibility," but what we really mean is people. People who are blind, people who rely on keyboard navigation, people with cognitive differences — real users who deserve the same seamless, respectful experience as anyone else.
Accessibility isn’t just about compliance. It’s about humanity.
By the end of the project, we had not only met WCAG 2.1 AA standards — we had built a foundation of empathy, skill, and pride across our entire Product team.
Our Product Platform was certified by year's end. Our VPAT and ACR were complete and visible on every page. And best of all, our thinking about what it means to design for everyone had changed - permanently.
A 12-month compliance roadmap that can easily translate into a quick-read, high impact visual for the weekly updates throughout the year.
Provided comprehensive strategy around our SAFeAgile workflow and training for our developers to understand the importance of accessibility and how to maintain it throughout updates and new features.
Weekly-updated, feature status tracking report as part of a larger weekly status review with Product leadership.
The last step of the roadmap is Governance, which includes internal Documentation represented by this Confuence page.
Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR)
