How to read a VPAT (ACR)
A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a report completed by a vendor detailing the accessibility of their IT product. Did you know that purchasers for U.S. public universities should acquire a VPAT for every digital product they procure?
But how do you read a VPAT and associated Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR)? What are the differences between the Section 508, WCAG and International VPATs?
Gian Wild talks us through the layout of a VPAT and how to properly interpret the associated ACR. She discusses the red flags, explains what to do about them and provides some examples of what a good VPAT looks like.
Finally, she talks about how you can confirm whether the VPAT is actually correct – determine whether it accurately represents the accessibility compliance of a product.
Highly recommended for anyone involved in purchasing IT products.
Speakers
Gian Wild
CEO
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Gian Wild is the CEO of AccessibilityOz, with offices in the United States and Australia. She has worked in the accessibility industry since 1998, when she worked on the very first accessible Australian web site. Her major achievements include: six years’ active membership in the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group contributing to WCAG2; her speech on the importance of web accessibility at the United Nations Conference of State Parties in 2015; and the release of the ICT Mobile Site and Native App Accessibility Testing Guidelines as the Mobile Sub-Committee Chair of the ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium. In 2019, Gian won the inaugural Accessibility Person of the Year in Australia. Gian speaks at conferences in Australia, the US, Canada, South America and Europe.