How to Perform a Section 508 Audit? A Section 508 audit helps you confirm accessibility standards of your website. Section 508 VPAT requirements should be your priority before procurement teams ask for proof. So keep reading to find out what are Section 508 compliance requirements and how to audit your product. 1. What Is Section 508 Compliance? Section 508 is a federal law under the Rehabilitation Act. This law applies to ele ctronic and information technology used by the government. According to this law, all the following elements should be accessible to everyone regardless of their vision, hearing or cognitive disability. Websites Software applications SaaS platforms PDFs an d documents Mobile apps Cloud tools Section 508 law is based on the WCAG 2.2 success criteria. Following WCAG standards directly means you are already on the right path towards the 508 requirements. How to Meet Section 508 Requirements? Follow WCAG to meet Section 508 requirements. Organizations usually follow this process to complete the accessibility requirements: Run an Accessibility Audit: Find audit specialists who know everything about WCAG 2.2 AA standards and Section 508 checkpoints. This should be your sole focus at this phase. Remediation: The audit specialists should tell you about how to efficiently fix alt - text gaps, color contrast issues, keyboard traps, form label errors and other blockers. Validate the fixes: Verify that all fixes are functio nal for disabled users. Prepare VPAT: Buyers often request this when evaluating your product for procurement. Section 508 for Software and Websites Not all products have the same accessibility challenges. Websites usually have issues or low color contract and missing alt text. Sometimes, designers leave links as non - description and developer do not take operability of content seriously and miss out on keyboard - only navigation aspect. Software & SaaS applications must also support assistive technology compatibility. There are often accessibility challenges seen in name, role, value exposure. Developer might even miss on keyboard focus indicators and screen reader announcements. No timeouts without war nings and inaccessible forms and error states also create barriers for users. If your product is cloud - based or used in federal workflows, accessibility will be tested heavily by procurement teams. A clean accessibility baseline is essential. Section 508 V PAT Requirements A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template is a formal accessibility document organizations must provide to government buyers. The report tells how well your product meet accessibility requirements described in WCAG or Section 508. The rep ort tells where it partially supports criteria and where it does not meet requirements. Federal agencies expect an accurate, professionally prepared VPAT before purchasing your product. There are four VPAT editions, but VPAT 2.4Rev is the standard for Sect ion 508. How to Perform a Section 508 Audit A Section 508 audit evaluates your product against the accessibility criteria required by federal law. Here is a structured approach: Step 1: Define which website elements will be tested during the audit. Step 2 : Use WCAG 2.2 AA and Section 508 Checkpoints like navigation, forms, labels etc. Step 3: Test with real assistive technologies for keyboard only accessibility, contract analysis or zoom reflow testing. Step 4: Prepare audit records: Document every issue w ith screenshots and create a basis for remediation. Step 5: Fix the issues to ensure full compliance. No Section 508 audit is complete until issues are verified as resolved. Conclu sion A Section 508 audit is your roadmap digital accessibility and compliance with federal law. You might need an audit for preparing for procurement or improving user experience but keep in mind that you will need a strong accessibility foundation. You c an achieve that with the help of ADACP. It is a trusted digital accessibility consulting agency in the US that offers quick testing and efficient remediation services for WCAG and Section 508 requirements. Read more: - https://www.adacompliancepros.com/