WPPA · MAY 19, 2026
Web Accessibility Resources for Washington Ports
If you attended the WPPA presentation on May 19, this is the companion page. The deck, the six-step plan, the exceptions, and the resources I pointed you at — all in one place.
WCAG 2.1, Level AA is the standard. April 26, 2028 is the date. The work between now and then is mostly decisions, not heroics.
Download the presentation
WHERE TO START MONDAY MORNING
Six things to get started on right away.
Phased across the next 23 months. Three steps to start now, two more by mid-summer, one long arc of execution work that runs the whole way through
1. Identify your ADA coordinator
One named person on the org chart with accountability for digital accessibility. Could be a current role; can’t be “everyone.” If you can’t think of who that’s going to be, it’s probably you.
2. Inventory your digital footprint
Public site, intranet, every vendor app, every PDF library. If a citizen can reach it, it counts. Most ports underestimate this by half.
3. Run a free accessibility scan
WAVE and axe DevTools are both free browser extensions. They catch about thirty percent of issues — enough to know where the cliff is. Manual evaluation comes next.
4. Audit vendor contracts
Pull every SaaS agreement. Ask each vendor for their VPAT — Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. If they cannot produce one, that is a flag worth following up on.
5. Set a "from now on" policy
Nothing new ships without accessibility review. You cannot fix the past while you are still actively breaking the present.
6. Plan and execute remediation
Prioritize by user impact. High-traffic pages, transactional forms, recent PDFs. Fix in waves. Retest. The bulk of compliance lives here, and it is the work that has to start once steps one through three are done.
WCAG 2.1 AA · IN PLAIN LANGUAGE
Compliance Is Organized Around the acronym POUR
WCAG is hundreds of pages of specifics. It is all organized around four principles. The mnemonic is POUR.
Perceivable
People can sense the content — by sight, sound, or assistive technology.
Operable
Every interaction works without a mouse, on any timing.
Understandable
Content and behavior are predictable. Errors are recoverable.
Robust
Built so assistive technology — present and future — can parse it.
Need more information?
Resources
For Communications and web managers
For IT and web developers
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
What is a VPAT?
The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. The industry-standard document a vendor fills out to disclose how their product meets accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 AA. Originated in federal Section 508 procurement, now used industry-wide. The completed version is technically called an ACR — Accessibility Conformance Report — but most people call the whole thing a VPAT. Ask your vendor for theirs before you renew the contract.
We are a tiny port — does this still apply?
Yes. Under DOJ’s rule, all special district governments share the same deadline — April 26, 2028 — regardless of size. Port of Seattle and Port of Wahkiakum have the same date circled. §35.204 can help you prioritize where to start. It does not exempt you.
What about undue burden?
§35.204 is an affirmative defense. It requires a written determination by the head of the entity — the port director, not a comms manager. It is content-specific (this PDF, this portal, not the whole site). And you still owe accessible alternatives on request. It is a tool for prioritization, not a permission slip.
Will DOJ actually enforce against my port?
DOJ enforcement against state and local government has been selective. Private plaintiffs are not. Settlements typically run from tens of thousands into the hundreds, driven by fee-shifting on attorney’s fees. A port that is actively working on this is a much less attractive target than one that has done nothing.
Aren't accessibility overlays enough?
DOJ has explicitly said overlays do not meet the rule. They are a band-aid on the visual layer of a site whose underlying code stays broken. There is no automated shortcut to compliance.
What about AI accessibility?
AI systems read the same semantic HTML that screen readers do. If your site is accessible to a screen reader today, it is readable to AI agents tomorrow. Same code, two audiences.
Are scanned PDFs really not okay?
A scanned PDF is a photograph of a document. To a screen reader, it is pixels — no text at all. The fix is OCR plus tagged PDF. Better is publishing as HTML in the first place.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Underground Creative
Underground Creative is a small marketing, design, and web development agency in Kennewick. We have worked with Port of Benton since 2020, managing several of their websites. We built the WPPA website with Mandy and the WPPA team in 2025.
This companion page exists because the talk asked you to do a lot, and a single PDF tucked in your email is not a great way to find any of it again. Bookmark the URL. Come back when you need it.