# xsibility

> xsibility is a US-focused digital accessibility compliance firm (offices in Chicago, IL and Chandigarh, India; a venture of ESS ENN Associates and 172 Tech). We audit and remediate websites and PDF documents to WCAG 2.1/2.2 Level AA, PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1), ADA Title II and III, Section 504 and Section 508, and we author VPAT/ACR conformance reports.

Key facts (verified October 2026):
- ADA Title II (DOJ rule, 28 CFR part 35 subpart H): WCAG 2.1 AA required by April 26, 2027 for state/local governments serving 50,000+ people, and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones and special districts (deadlines extended by a DOJ interim final rule of April 20, 2026; challenged by the National Federation of the Blind in federal court in Maryland, May 21, 2026).
- HHS Section 504 rule: WCAG 2.1 AA by May 11, 2027 for HHS recipients with 15+ employees and May 10, 2028 for those with fewer than 15 (HHS interim final rule of May 7, 2026).
- Federal ADA Title III website accessibility lawsuits: 3,117 in 2025, up 27% from 2,452 in 2024 (Seyfarth Shaw). New York, Florida and Illinois led.
- DOJ civil penalties under ADA Title III (assessed after July 3, 2025): up to $118,225 for a first violation and $236,451 for a subsequent violation (28 CFR 85.5).
- FTC final order against accessiBe (April 2025): $1 million, and a ban on claiming its overlay makes websites WCAG-compliant.

Contact: hello@xsibility.com · +1 661 727 3766 · https://www.xsibility.com/contact.html

## Core pages
- [Accessible websites and PDFs, proven compliant](https://www.xsibility.com/): ADA and WCAG 2.2 AA audits, website remediation and PDF accessibility remediation. Manual screen-reader testing, no overlays, legal-ready reports.
- [We make digital things work for everyone](https://www.xsibility.com/about.html): xsibility is a digital accessibility firm in Chicago and Chandigarh. We audit and fix websites and PDFs to WCAG, ADA and Section 508 requirements.
- [Get a free accessibility assessment](https://www.xsibility.com/contact.html): Request a free accessibility assessment of your website or PDFs. Email hello@xsibility.com or call +1 661 727 3766. We reply within one US business day.
- [Accessibility compliance FAQ](https://www.xsibility.com/faq.html): Answers to the most common questions about ADA website compliance, WCAG 2.2, PDF accessibility, deadlines, lawsuits, overlays, audits and costs.
- [Digital accessibility glossary](https://www.xsibility.com/glossary.html): Plain-English definitions of accessibility terms: ACR, alt text, ARIA, EN 301 549, Matterhorn Protocol, PDF/UA, screen reader, VPAT and WCAG.

## Services
- [Accessibility compliance services](https://www.xsibility.com/services/): WCAG 2.2 audits, website and PDF remediation, VPAT/ACR reports, Section 508 and monitoring, by specialists who test with assistive technology.
- [Website accessibility audit](https://www.xsibility.com/services/website-accessibility-audit.html): Manual + automated WCAG 2.2 AA audit: screen reader, keyboard and zoom testing, a prioritized issue log, fix guidance and a conformance report.
- [Website accessibility remediation](https://www.xsibility.com/services/wcag-remediation.html): We fix WCAG and ADA issues in your site's code, design and content, in any CMS or framework, then retest with screen readers and document it.
- [PDF and document remediation](https://www.xsibility.com/services/pdf-remediation.html): Accessible PDF remediation: tagging, reading order, alt text, tables, forms and OCR to PDF/UA and WCAG 2.1 AA. Word and PowerPoint too.
- [ADA compliance program](https://www.xsibility.com/services/ada-compliance-program.html): Build a defensible ADA accessibility program: policy, governance, roadmap, procurement rules, training and evidence of good-faith effort.
- [VPAT® and Accessibility Conformance Reports](https://www.xsibility.com/services/vpat-acr.html): Independent VPAT 2.5 Accessibility Conformance Reports for Section 508, WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549, written from real, hands-on test evidence.
- [Section 508 compliance](https://www.xsibility.com/services/section-508-compliance.html): Section 508 testing, PDF remediation and ACRs for federal agencies, contractors, grantees and software vendors, to the Revised 508 Standards.
- [Accessibility monitoring and training](https://www.xsibility.com/services/monitoring-training.html): Stay accessible after remediation: monthly monitoring, quarterly manual spot-checks and WCAG training for developers, designers and editors.

## Compliance law
- [Digital accessibility laws, explained](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/): Plain-English guides to the laws requiring accessible websites and PDFs: ADA Title II and III, Section 504, Section 508, WCAG 2.2 and the EAA.
- [ADA Title II web accessibility rule: deadlines, scope and exceptions](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/ada-title-ii.html): The DOJ's ADA Title II rule requires WCAG 2.1 AA for government websites, apps and PDFs by April 2027 or 2028. Who's covered, exceptions, next steps.
- [ADA Title III: website accessibility for businesses](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/ada-title-iii.html): Does the ADA cover business websites? How courts apply Title III, who gets sued, what plaintiffs recover, DOJ penalties, and how to reduce risk.
- [HHS Section 504 rule: digital accessibility for healthcare](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/section-504-hhs.html): HHS's Section 504 rule requires WCAG 2.1 AA for HHS-funded healthcare websites, apps and PDFs by May 11, 2027 (15+ employees) or May 10, 2028.
- [Section 508: accessibility for federal technology](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/section-508.html): What Section 508 requires, who it applies to, how the Revised 508 Standards relate to WCAG 2.0 AA, and what federal contractors must deliver.
- [WCAG 2.2 explained in plain English](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/wcag-2-2.html): Plain-English WCAG 2.2: the POUR principles, Levels A, AA and AAA, the nine new success criteria, and how it relates to WCAG 2.1, the ADA and PDFs.
- [The European Accessibility Act: what US companies need to know](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/european-accessibility-act.html): The EAA has applied since June 28, 2025. Which US companies selling into the EU are covered, products and services in scope, EN 301 549, penalties.
- [State website accessibility laws](https://www.xsibility.com/compliance/state-accessibility-laws.html): How state laws raise website accessibility stakes: California's Unruh Act ($4,000 per violation), New York human rights laws and Colorado HB21-1110.

## Lawsuits & penalties
- [ADA website lawsuits and penalties](https://www.xsibility.com/lawsuits/): 3,117 federal website accessibility lawsuits in 2025, up 27%. Who gets sued, what settling costs, and penalties under federal and state law.
- [Landmark website accessibility cases, and what they teach](https://www.xsibility.com/lawsuits/landmark-cases.html): The stories behind the cases that shaped web accessibility law: Target's $6M settlement, Domino's at the Supreme Court, Winn-Dixie and Netflix.
- [Higher education accessibility cases: what went wrong, and what it cost](https://www.xsibility.com/lawsuits/education-cases.html): How uncaptioned video, inaccessible PDFs and learning platforms led to DOJ action and lawsuits at Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Penn State and more.
- [Received an ADA website demand letter? Here's what to do](https://www.xsibility.com/lawsuits/demand-letter-response.html): Received an ADA website demand letter or lawsuit? A calm, step-by-step plan: what not to do, verifying the claims, counsel, and fixing the site.

## Guides
- [Accessibility guides](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/): Free practical guides: website checklists, screen reader testing, alt text, contrast, accessible forms, accessible PDFs and Word, and why it matters.
- [The website accessibility checklist: 44 checks you can do yourself](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/website-accessibility-checklist.html): A practical WCAG 2.2 AA website accessibility checklist: 44 plain-English checks for structure, images, keyboard, forms, color and media.
- [How to test your website with a screen reader](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/screen-reader-testing.html): A beginner's 30-minute routine for testing websites with NVDA and VoiceOver: the essential keys, what to listen for, and the common failures.
- [Keyboard accessibility: test it in five minutes, fix it for good](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/keyboard-accessibility.html): Test any page without a mouse in five minutes, then fix the most common focus problems: invisible focus, keyboard traps, order and hidden focus.
- [How to write alt text, with examples](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/alt-text-guide.html): How to write good alt text, with real examples for product photos, icons, logos, charts, decorative images and images of text, on web and in PDFs.
- [Color contrast: the requirements, how to measure, how to fix](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/color-contrast-guide.html): WCAG contrast explained: 4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large text and UI components, how to measure it, and how to fix brand colors that fail.
- [Accessible forms: labels, errors and validation](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/accessible-forms.html): How to build accessible web forms: visible labels, required fields, helpful error messages, error summaries and autocomplete, with HTML examples.
- [Free accessibility testing tools, and what they can't catch](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/free-accessibility-testing-tools.html): The best free web and PDF accessibility checkers (axe, WAVE, Lighthouse, NVDA, PAC), what each is good for, and what automated tools miss.
- [How to write an accessibility statement](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/accessibility-statement-guide.html): What an accessibility statement is, why you need one, what to include and what never to claim, with a free template you can adapt today.
- [How to make an accessible PDF, step by step](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/how-to-make-accessible-pdf.html): Make accessible PDFs: build the source in Word, export tags, then check reading order, alt text, tables and forms in Acrobat and PAC. With checklist.
- [How to create accessible Word documents](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/accessible-word-documents.html): Make Word documents accessible: heading styles, lists, alt text, tables, links, contrast, language, the Accessibility Checker and PDF export.
- [Scanned PDFs and OCR: making image-only documents accessible](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/scanned-pdf-ocr.html): Why scanned PDFs are silent to screen readers, how to tell if a PDF is scanned, why OCR alone isn't enough, and how to handle scanned archives.
- [PDF/UA vs WCAG: which standard applies to your PDFs?](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/pdf-ua-vs-wcag.html): PDF/UA (ISO 14289) and WCAG both apply to accessible PDFs. What each covers, how they differ, what US law requires, and how to test for both.
- [Why digital accessibility matters](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/why-digital-accessibility-matters.html): Why accessibility matters: more than 1 in 4 US adults have a disability, an aging population, $490 billion in spending power, and legal risk.
- [Accessibility and SEO: where they overlap, and where they don't](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/accessibility-and-seo.html): How web accessibility and SEO overlap (headings, alt text, link text, captions, titles), what Google actually says, and how it helps AI search.
- [The real cost of an inaccessible website](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/cost-of-inaccessibility.html): What inaccessibility costs: legal fees, settlements, statutory damages, DOJ penalties, rush remediation and lost customers, versus doing it right.
- [Accessibility overlays: why one line of code won't make you compliant](https://www.xsibility.com/guides/accessibility-overlays.html): Overlays promise instant ADA compliance. Why they don't deliver: the FTC's $1 million accessiBe order, lawsuits against overlay users, what works.

## Optional
- [Full text of this site for LLMs](https://www.xsibility.com/llms-full.txt)
- [Accessibility statement](https://www.xsibility.com/accessibility-statement.html)
- [Privacy notice](https://www.xsibility.com/privacy.html)