How to Write an Accessibility Statement
Almost every accessibility checklist tells you to “publish an accessibility statement,” and almost none of them tell you what one should actually say. So people copy a paragraph from a competitor, swap the company name, and move on — usually with a sentence that quietly does more harm than good. A statement is worth writing, but it is a trust document, not a legal shield. Here is what belongs in one, what to keep out, and a template you can adapt in an afternoon.
What an Accessibility Statement Actually Is
An accessibility statement is a public page where you tell visitors three things: that you take accessibility seriously, which standard you are working toward, and how to reach you if something on the site doesn't work for them. That's it. It is part commitment, part instruction manual, part open door.
What it is not is a compliance certificate. Publishing a statement does not make your site conform to the WCAG guidelines, and it does not make you immune to a demand letter. Anyone who tells you a statement “protects” you legally is selling you something. What it does do — when it's honest — is give real users a path to get help and show a court you have a process. Those are both genuinely valuable. Just don't confuse them with the work itself.
Why Bother Writing One at All?
If it's not legal armor, why spend the time? Three honest reasons:
- It gives disabled users a way to reach you. When someone hits a barrier, a contact route in your statement means they email you instead of a plaintiff's attorney. That single feedback channel resolves more situations than any widget ever has.
- It documents good faith. Courts and regulators care whether you have an ongoing process. A dated statement that names a standard and a remediation timeline is evidence that accessibility isn't an afterthought.
- It's expected. Procurement teams, government buyers, and enterprise vendors increasingly look for one before they sign. Its absence is a small red flag; its presence is a quiet signal that you've done the work behind it.
Notice the theme: every benefit assumes the statement is backed by real remediation. A statement on top of an inaccessible site is just a more findable target.
What to Include (The Anatomy)
A good statement is short and specific. Six parts cover everything that matters:
- A commitment line. One or two sentences saying you're committed to making your site usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.
- The standard you target. Name it precisely — almost always “WCAG 2.2 Level AA.” Vague phrases like “fully accessible” mean nothing and can be turned against you.
- Your conformance status. Be honest: “partially conformant” is a real, accepted status and almost always the truthful one. Use it.
- Known limitations. If a third-party map, embedded video, or legacy section isn't there yet, say so. Naming a gap reads as honesty, not weakness.
- A feedback and contact method. An email or form, with a promise to respond within a stated window (e.g., five business days). This is the most important line on the page.
- The date. When the statement was last reviewed. An undated statement looks abandoned.
If writing this from scratch feels tedious, our free accessibility statement generator walks you through these fields and hands back clean, dated copy you can paste straight onto a page.
The One Sentence That Turns Your Statement Into Evidence
The most common mistake is overpromising. Statements that declare a site is “fully compliant,” “100% WCAG conformant,” or “ADA certified” are writing a check the site can't cash. No site is perfectly conformant for long — content changes daily — and a plaintiff who finds one broken form field can wave your own “fully compliant” claim back at you as proof you misrepresented your site.
The same logic torpedoes statements that brag about an accessibility overlay or widget. Those tools don't deliver the compliance they advertise — we walk through the evidence, including the FTC's order against accessiBe, in Do Accessibility Overlays Actually Work? Citing one in your statement just advertises a known weak point. Underpromise. “We are working toward WCAG 2.2 AA and actively remediating” ages far better than any superlative.
How to Write Yours in an Afternoon
A statement is only as truthful as your knowledge of the site, so the order of operations matters. Don't describe your conformance before you've measured it.
- Scan first. Run a few key templates — home, a content page, a form — through our free WCAG checker so you actually know where you stand. Automated scanning is built on the open-source axe-core engine and reliably catches roughly 30–40% of WCAG criteria — the machine-detectable ones. The rest needs human judgment, which is exactly why your statement should say “working toward,” not “done.”
- Fix the cheap, obvious failures. Missing alt text, low contrast, unlabeled buttons. Clearing these before you publish keeps your “known limitations” section short and honest. A structured accessibility audit helps you separate the quick wins from the deeper work.
- Draft the statement. Use the six-part anatomy above or the generator. Name WCAG 2.2 AA, state “partially conformant,” list real gaps, add a monitored contact address, and date it.
- Publish it where people can find it. Link it in your footer on every page. A statement buried three clicks deep helps no one.
A Statement Is a Promise — Keep It Current
The fastest way to undermine a statement is to publish it and forget it. The moment you write “we are committed to accessibility,” you've made a promise a court can check. If your site regresses — a new theme, a plugin update, a redesigned checkout — and your dated statement still claims everything is fine, the gap between word and reality is itself the problem.
Treat the statement as the public face of an ongoing process. Re-scan after every significant change, and turn on continuous monitoring so new issues surface before a user does. When you respond to a feedback email and fix what it flagged, update the date. That rhythm — measure, fix, restate — is what an accessibility statement is really promising, and it's worth far more than any sentence claiming you're lawsuit-proof. No tool, statement, or vendor can promise that, and the honest ones won't try.
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