What it is
Evaluating a design or build against an accessibility standard such as WCAG, and testing with assistive technology: screen readers, keyboard-only use, magnification, voice control. An audit finds unmet requirements; testing with people who use assistive technology shows how it works. Automated checkers find only some issues.
Why use it
Accessibility problems cost less to fix in design than after release and decide whether people can complete tasks at all. A review also tells engineering how to build accessible behavior.
Use this when
- A hi-fi design is nearly done and about to go to engineering
- A built feature needs checking before release
- The product must meet an accessibility standard or legal requirement
- Custom components or complex interactions are involved
You may not need this when
- The work reuses components with a current accessibility review and does not change their behavior
- The change is so small that existing build checks cover it
- An equivalent review was recently completed
Dependencies — what you need
- Designs or a build stable enough to evaluate
- A chosen standard and level, such as WCAG 2.2 Level AA or the version your requirement names
- Assistive technologies and checking tools
- Reviewers with accessibility expertise, ideally including assistive technology users
People involved
- Design
- Engineering
- Research
- Product
- Content / UX Writing
Typical outputs
- Issues mapped to standard criteria, with severity and fixes
- Accessibility annotations for handoff, such as focus order and labels
- Findings from assistive-technology testing
- A record of what was and was not reviewed, and open issues
Template
Accessibility Review template
A fill-in structure for running this method: what to prepare, what to do, what to record, and how to read the result.
How AI can help
AI as augmentation — not replacement
- Draft a review checklist from the chosen standard for the components in scope
- Suggest likely problem areas, such as contrast and focus order
- Draft annotations, and alternative text from a description of each image's purpose, for a reviewer to verify
- Summarize audit results into a remediation list; findings still need human testing with assistive technology
AI prompt
A prompt for any AI assistant. It works only from material you paste in, keeps assumptions apart from findings, and leaves the decisions to you.