WCAG & Accessibility·4 min read

What Goes in an Accessibility Statement (W3C Style)

A public promise, in writing, on your own domain: that's what an accessibility statement amounts to, and it's why the wording deserves more care than a boilerplate paste. A good one is honest and useful at once: the standard you target, how far you've gotten, the gaps you know about, and a working way for someone blocked by a barrier to tell you. Public sector bodies in the EU and the UK must publish one, and elsewhere it is widely used as evidence of a real accessibility effort.

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What goes in an accessibility statement, section by section

The W3C structure.

The W3C's recommended format runs in a fixed order: a commitment paragraph naming your organization, a list of measures you take to support accessibility, a conformance status against the WCAG version and level you target, known limitations if any exist, a feedback section with contact channels, your assessment approach, and the date the statement was created, plus when the site was last reviewed.

None of it is decoration. The measures show process, the status makes a falsifiable claim, the limitations preempt surprise, and the feedback channel is the part a blocked user actually needs. The Accessibility Statement Generator lets you pick WCAG 2.0, 2.1 or 2.2 at Level A, AA or AAA, and the conformance sentence updates to match. Name the version you actually tested against; 2.1 AA is the one most laws cite. If a specific law applies, pick its template to add a legal framework paragraph, and switch the output language if your audience reads French, Spanish or German.

Conformance status wording in a WCAG statement

Three options, one honest default.

The conformance status carries the legal weight, so the generator limits it to three W3C-aligned formulations. Fully conformant asserts the content meets the standard without exception, a claim you should only publish after automated and manual testing both agree. Partially conformant states that some parts don't fully conform, which is accurate for most real sites. Working toward conformance signals active remediation that hasn't reached the bar yet.

Partial conformance plus a candid limitations list is the strong position, not the weak one. Overclaiming is what gets statements quoted back at their authors.

A worked accessibility statement, generated line by line

Form in, document out.

Feed the generator a bookshop: organization Maple & Main Books, website mapleandmain.ca, WCAG 2.1 at Level AA, status partially conformant, contact access@mapleandmain.ca, and one known limitation: content Annual reports, problem older PDF reports are not yet tagged for screen readers, alternative a plain-text version on request. The preview assembles the full document as you type, and the conformance section ends: mapleandmain.ca is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

The limitation becomes a bullet under Limitations and alternatives, the email lands in the Feedback section beside a response promise of five business days unless you change it, the Assessment approach section lists the methods you ticked, and the closing line records the statement date and, if you entered one, the last review date. Click Copy Markdown or Copy HTML, or download an HTML page or Word file, and the job is done before the meeting ends. Save a draft file so next year's update starts from these answers. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Where to publish the statement so people find it

Predictability is the feature.

Convention has settled this one: a stable path like /accessibility/, linked from the footer of every page, in the same neighborhood as your privacy policy. Screen reader users and auditors both check the footer first, so novelty placement only hides the document from the people it exists for.

Copy HTML gives plain headings, paragraphs, and lists, so the text inherits your site's CSS the moment you drop it into a CMS page. The HTML download is a complete page with a language attribute and light styling, for sites where you upload a file instead. One irony worth avoiding: don't let the statement page itself fail contrast or heading structure.

Accessibility statement mistakes that backfire

A bad statement is worse than none, because it's quotable. The recurring failures:

Claiming full conformance without testing to back it. Any user who hits a barrier now has your own words as an exhibit.
Leaving known limitations empty while the scanner report lists forty issues. Candor there is what makes the rest credible.
Publishing a feedback address nobody monitors. An ignored barrier report is more damaging than an unreported one.
Never revisiting the statement. A statement created three redesigns ago announces neglect; update it and set the last review date each time.

Keeping your accessibility statement honest over time

It's a living document.

Three maintenance habits keep the promise true. Regenerate the statement after each major remediation round, updating the status and pruning limitations that no longer exist; reviewing it at least once a year is a sensible floor. Source the limitations list from your latest scan results rather than from memory, so the document tracks reality. And only promise a response time if someone actually owns that inbox; set the response time field to your real turnaround.

Tools that feed a stronger accessibility statement

Evidence before assertion.

The statement should be the last document you produce, not the first. Run the Website Accessibility Scanner to ground your conformance claim and harvest the known limitations list from its findings. Track the human-verified criteria in the WCAG Compliance Checklist so the assessment approach section reflects genuine review. Ontario organizations can pair it with the AODA Compliance Checklist, and US public entities with the ADA Title II Compliance Checker, whose readiness checklist includes publishing a statement with a feedback channel.

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