Section 508 Compliance. Built in, then proven.
Federal agencies, their contractors, and organizations spending federal money have to meet Section 508. We build to that standard, remediate sites that do not meet it, and hand you the evidence behind every claim — because a solicitation asks you to demonstrate conformance, not assert it.
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The standard
What Section 508 actually asks for
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Since the 2017 Refresh, the standard incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference — so in practice, meeting Section 508 on the web means meeting WCAG success criteria, documented against the specific technology you are delivering.
That reference point matters when you are reading a solicitation. "Section 508 compliant" and "WCAG 2.0 AA" are describing the same technical bar in most web contexts. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, which is a later version of the same standard, so a site built to our baseline clears the Section 508 requirement rather than just meeting it.
Many state governments have their own statutes that mirror Section 508, and federal grant conditions frequently push the same obligation onto recipients who are not federal agencies themselves. If a funder is involved, the requirement usually follows the money. State and local government entities are covered by ADA Title II rather than Section 508, on a separate timetable — see the Title II compliance deadlines.
The work
What conformance requires in a real build
None of this is a plugin. Each item is a decision made during design and development, then verified before launch.
- Semantic structure and heading order that a screen reader can navigate without guesswork
- Every form field labelled and every error message announced, not just coloured red
- Keyboard operability across the whole journey, with no focus traps in menus, modals or carousels
- Colour contrast that meets the ratio at the sizes you actually ship, not just in the palette
- Text alternatives for images, and real transcripts or captions for audio and video
- Content that reflows and stays usable at 200% zoom and on a phone
- Tables, lists and landmarks marked up as what they are, so assistive technology can skip and scan
- Third-party embeds and PDFs assessed too, because a solicitation does not exempt them
Verification
Evidence, not assertions
We run automated testing across the whole site and then do manual keyboard and screen-reader passes on the journeys people depend on — apply, request, pay, contact. Automated tooling catches a meaningful share of issues; the rest only surface when a person drives the interface the way an assistive-technology user would.
You get the findings in writing: what was fixed, what is inherited from a third-party embed you may not control, and what needs a content decision from your team. We will tell you plainly where a site stands rather than issuing a blanket pass. If your solicitation asks for a VPAT or an Accessibility Conformance Report, say so up front and we will scope that as a deliverable.
If your current site is the problem, we can audit it and hand you the findings with or without doing the remediation. Some organizations need the evidence before they can fund the fix.
Who this applies to
Where Section 508 shows up
The obligation reaches further than federal agencies alone.
Federal agencies
Direct obligation under the Rehabilitation Act, usually with procurement language that names the standard explicitly and asks for conformance documentation.
Federal contractors
Deliverables procured by an agency generally have to meet the same bar. Our work with government and contractors covers the procurement-facing side of this.
Grant recipients
Schools, nonprofits and health organizations spending federal money often inherit accessibility conditions through their grant agreements.
State and local government
Many states have statutes modelled on Section 508. Resident-facing services carry the obligation regardless of the funding source — see municipal website design.
Project Managers who will work with you on your project!
Irina S.hello@eseospace.com
Benjamin G.ben@eseospace.com
David G.david@eseospace.comWork with us
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Questions
Section 508 questions we get
Is Section 508 the same as WCAG?
Does Section 508 apply to us if we are not a federal agency?
Can an overlay or accessibility widget make our site compliant?
Do our PDFs and documents count?
Can you remediate a site you did not build?
Reading
Accessibility guides
Written for the people who have to specify and fund this work.
Wondering what this costs? Every service has published pricing — no discovery call required to see it.
View pricingHave a solicitation that names Section 508?
Send it over. We will tell you what the accessibility clauses actually require of the finished site, and whether your current build can get there.
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