Website accessibility case study: how ETTE's pre-launch Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 review of the Military Women's Memorial website caught a harmful flashing element, reset the launch plan around remediation and testing with disabled veterans, and built lasting accessibility practice on both sides.
The pre-launch audit that made 3 million stories accessible to everyone
In 2020, the Military Women’s Memorial was preparing to relaunch its website, the digital home for the stories of the 3 million women who have served in America’s armed forces. As the Memorial’s IT service provider, ETTE offered to review the new site for Section 508 compliance before it went live. The manual audit surfaced serious issues, including a flashing element known to trigger migraines and seizures. The launch was delayed, the site was remediated, and disabled veterans helped test it before go-live. This page tells that story through the four people who lived it.
Catch it before launch, not after
ETTE’s role as the Memorial’s IT service provider was to look out for its best interest: raise the compliance question early, audit thoroughly, and make the case that a delayed launch beats an inaccessible one.
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Raise the issue earlyAhead of the impending relaunch, ETTE offered to review the new site for Section 508 compliance, the client’s first exposure to web accessibility standards
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Audit both waysAutomated scanning plus a manual audit by ETTE’s certified 508 expert, because automated tools alone cannot catch everything
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Remediate firstThe launch was deliberately delayed so the issues discovered, one of them dangerous, could be fixed before any visitor met them
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Test with real usersThe Memorial’s state Ambassadors, many of them veterans with disabilities, provided feedback on the site before the go-live date
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Make it durableOngoing ETTE audits to detect non-compliance, plus a new Director of Programs with extensive ADA compliance expertise advising the organization
Accessibility is the practice of making your website usable by as many people as possible
Under the ADA’s definition, accessible websites do not require people to see, hear, or use a standard mouse to reach the information and services provided. That covers far more people than most decision-makers realize: beyond visual and auditory impairments, accessibility addresses limited mobility, a wide range of cognitive disabilities from dyslexia to PTSD, and people who experience seizures: any permanent, temporary, or situational disability. For the Memorial, whose audience is generations of veterans, service-connected disability is not an edge case. It is the core constituency.
The Curb Cut Effect
Curb cuts were carved into sidewalks for wheelchair users, and ended up helping everyone with a stroller, a delivery cart, or a rolling suitcase. Digital accessibility works the same way: designs intended for people with disabilities make websites easier for all users, who stay on the site longer.
How ETTE came to this work
ETTE, a minority-owned small business, was first introduced to accessibility through its relationship with the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, then moved into leadership on client accessibility projects: defining requirements under Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 and advising on effective IT accessibility programs. Internally, ETTE adopted a policy that its software development staff attain IAAP certification. While Section 508 formally binds federal agencies, ETTE operates on the principle that everyone should be compliant.
The legal landscape
What the pre-launch review caught
The inspection surfaced several issues requiring considerable remediation. One of them made the stakes concrete in a way no checklist could: for some visitors, the site had crossed from difficult to dangerous.
During the initial manual audit, ETTE’s lead 508 expert was affected by a flashing image element that induced a migraine on the spot. That class of visual element is known to trigger migraines and seizures in people with specific cognitive disabilities. With over 3 million people in the Memorial’s potential audience, even a small percentage of affected visitors was unacceptable.
A quick Google search will not tell you that a site needs to be audited by both automated and manual means. Automated tools catch patterns; a trained human catches experience: what it is like to navigate the site with a screen reader, a keyboard, or a cognitive disability. The audit paired both, run by a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies.
The Memorial turned to its state Ambassadors, many of them veterans with disabilities, for feedback before the launch date. Combined with a new Director of Programs with extensive ADA compliance expertise, remediation was checked against the people it was for, not just against the standard.
Fixing accessibility before launch protects an organization from the lawsuit wave that followed COVID-19’s shift online, and it costs far less than retrofitting: inclusive design is cheapest at the first stages of planning. More importantly, it showed the Memorial’s constituency that their access was worth waiting for.
Military Women’s Memorial tells the stories of the 3 million women that served, and we want everyone to have the opportunity to experience these compelling stories. Veterans know more than anyone about the challenges around combat or service-related disabilities, so we are particularly sensitive to ensuring that we have put our very best foot forward and made every effort to make our engagement with our visitors fully accessible.
— Robin Johnson, Chief of Staff, Military Women’s MemorialWhat the engagement left behind
The flashing image that induced a migraine during the audit, a known seizure and migraine trigger, was caught and remediated before launch, not discovered by an affected veteran afterward.
The Memorial chose to hold its relaunch until the issues discovered in the audit were remediated, moving the site steadily toward full Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 compliance instead of shipping known barriers.
The Memorial still has ETTE run audits that detect aspects of the site that fall out of compliance, the ongoing monitoring that accessibility experts identify as the real solution.
The Memorial hired a Director of Programs with extensive ADA compliance expertise to advise it through the process, and built its state Ambassadors into a standing feedback channel.
The engagement reinforced ETTE’s internal policy of having software development staff attain IAAP certification, and its practice of writing accessibility cheat sheets so accessible development is everyone’s habit, not one expert’s job.
The Memorial’s quick decision to initiate a manual audit and remediate before go-live is the stance ETTE recommends to every organization with a web presence: address accessibility before launch rather than after.
Four perspectives on the same launch
The original case study told this story through four people: a client, a service provider, a technical expert, and a policy expert. Each saw a different piece of the same obligation. Roles are given as of the 2020 engagement.
Responsible for the successful launch of the new website, and newly retired from the Army when ETTE first raised the compliance requirement, her first exposure to web accessibility standards. She named the real obstacles plainly: limited staff, real cost, little federal help for small nonprofits. The Memorial committed anyway.
We understand the value and are committed to ensuring it is done right.
Made the call that started everything: when ETTE became aware of the impending launch date, it offered to review the site so the Memorial would not run into accessibility issues after go-live. His takeaway from the engagement is the thesis of this page: address accessibility before launching, because it protects the organization and honors the audience.
As a decision-maker, you can do well by doing good.
ETTE’s lead 508 and WCAG 2.1 subject matter expert, who ran the manual audit. Her migraine, induced by the site’s flashing element, turned an abstract guideline into an undeniable finding. She identifies lack of knowledge as the biggest obstacle organizations face, and builds cheat sheets so accessible development outlives any single project.
Knowing how to interpret the guidelines is at least half of my job; the other half is knowing how to explain them to clients.
A nationally recognized Section 508 expert, twelve years COO of the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, and the parent of a visually impaired child. Her counsel: incorporate accessibility early in the development life cycle, test with users who have disabilities, and treat ongoing compliance monitoring, not a one-time fix, as the real solution.
If you have an accessible website, you improve the experience and usability for all users. They will stay on the site longer.
If your website has never had an accessibility audit
Start before your next launch, not after your first complaint
The practical starting points are the same ones this engagement used: review the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1), run an automated scan with a tool like WAVE, check that images carry descriptive alt text, review headings, buttons, and links. Then have the site audited manually, because automated tools alone will not catch what a trained auditor experiences. ETTE holds its own site to that standard (see our accessibility statement) and brings the same manual-plus-automated audit practice to clients, most valuably in the window before a launch.
The obstacle is rarely unwillingness. Most organizations simply do not know the requirements exist until someone raises them. Consider this page that call.