Section 508 Compliance Checklists and Tools for Websites and PDFs

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973(opens in a new tab) requires that all information and communication technology (ICT) produced, procured, or used by federal agencies be accessible to people with disabilities. Federal agencies, their contractors, and any state, county, or municipal agency that receives federal funding must comply. Section 508 compliance is measured against the accessibility requirements outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(opens in a new tab) (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.

Below, we’ve provided an overview to help you determine if you’re required to comply with Section 508, along with an accessibility checker and Section 508 checklist for website developers and designers working with government digital properties.

Who Must Comply with Section 508?

Section 508 compliance is mandatory for any organization that touches federal digital infrastructure, not just federal agencies themselves. 

• Federal agencies must ensure that all ICT they develop, procure, maintain, or use meets Section 508 standards. This includes websites, software, hardware, electronic documents, and any other digital content made available to employees or the public.

• Federal contractors and vendors are required to comply whenever they develop, supply, or maintain ICT on behalf of a federal agency. If a federal agency will use your product or service, Section 508 applies to that work, regardless of whether your company is private.

• State, county, and municipal agencies that receive federal funding are also subject to Section 508. Federal funding comes with accessibility requirements, meaning any digital property supported by those funds must meet the standard.

• Private-sector organizations working under federal contracts fall under the Section 508 scope for that contracted work. A private company isn’t subject to Section 508 for its own commercial products, but the moment it enters a federal contract, the ICT delivered under that contract must comply.

If you’re unsure whether Section 508 applies to your organization, the clearest signal is this: if federal money or a federal contract is involved, compliance is likely required.

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What Technologies Does Section 508 Cover?

The following technologies are required to be accessible under Section 508:

• Content on public-facing web pages and sites

• Printers, scanners, phones, and kiosks

• Online forms

• Internal and external emails

• Software and applications, including mobile apps

• Social media posts

• Resources for online training

• Sites, pages, and tools on an organization’s intranet

• Job application sites and pages

• Digital files, including PDFs or web-delivered documents

WCAG and Section 508 Compliance

WCAG, developed by the W3C, is the technical standard that defines what accessible digital content looks like across websites, software, and electronic documents. A 2018 refresh of Section 508 aligned it with WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the required conformance level.

WCAG 2.2 has since been published with additional success criteria, but Section 508 currently maps to WCAG 2.1. Organizations should monitor updates from the W3C, as the standard is set to evolve. 

For a complete breakdown of WCAG requirements, see our WCAG compliance guide.

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Section 508 Compliance Checklist

Use this checklist to audit your web content against Section 508 requirements. For the full technical specification, see Section 508 requirements on the U.S. Access Board site(opens in a new tab).

• Sync captioning and ensure audio, video, or multimedia files include captions, transcripts, or audio descriptions.

• Ensure keyboard-friendly navigation throughout the website, app, or menu, no mouse required.

• Every file and form must be accessible, fillable, and submittable, including online documents and PDFs.

• Include "Skip Navigation" links so users can bypass repetitive elements and reach the main content faster.

• Avoid special characters that trigger encoding errors.

• Reduce or eliminate special effects applied to text.

• Eliminate flashing or blinking text.

• Use image alt text for every graphic or visual element, including images, diagrams, and photos.

• Ensure page headings follow a logical order (H1, H2, H3).

• Make all links visible, underlined, and descriptively labeled.

• Define the language of each web page in the page code.

• Ensure web forms have a logical layout, clear instructions, required data formats, and labeled fields.

• Keep page titles brief and descriptive so users can distinguish between pages.

• Ensure text remains readable and does not overlap when enlarged.

• Maintain sufficient color contrast between text and background elements—WCAG 2.1 requires a minimum ratio of 4.5:1. Use a color contrast checker to verify.

• Allow users to adjust or extend time limits on timed content.

• Include clear error messages that identify what went wrong, where, and how to fix it.

Assistive Technology Checklist

Roughly 20% of the population uses assistive technology(opens in a new tab) to access digital content—including screen readers, text-to-speech software, adaptive keyboards, and Braille displays. Use these checks to confirm your content works with the tools your users depend on.

• Use semantic HTML to preserve content relationships—headings, lists, and tables must be interpretable by assistive technology.

• Avoid instructions that rely solely on sensory cues (e.g., "click the green button"); screen readers cannot communicate color or visual emphasis.

• Never use color alone to convey meaning.

• Ensure all functionality is operable via keyboard.

• Keep keyboard focus visible and consistent across all interactive elements.

• Prevent unexpected context changes when users interact with forms or UI elements (e.g., dropdowns that auto-submit).

• Keep code free of parsing errors so assistive technology can correctly interpret page content.

• Ensure all interactive elements (buttons, links, checkboxes, etc.) expose their names, roles, and states to assistive technology.

Section 508 PDF and Document Checklist

PDFs and digital documents carry their own set of Section 508 requirements. A document that looks clean on screen can still fail compliance if it lacks the underlying structure that assistive technology needs to read it correctly. Use this checklist before publishing any document to a federal or federally funded digital property.

• Apply heading tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure the document and establish a clear reading hierarchy.

• Add meaningful alt text to every image, chart, diagram, or visual element; describe what the image communicates, not just what it depicts.

• Confirm the reading order matches the visual layout so screen readers present content in the correct sequence.

• Structure all tables with proper header rows and column labels; avoid using tables for visual layout purposes.

• Tag all form fields with descriptive labels and ensure they are compatible with screen reader input.

• Verify color contrast meets the 4.5:1 minimum ratio for all body text and interactive elements.

• Use real, selectable text throughout; never publish scanned images of text without OCR processing and tagging.

• Apply PDF/UA tagging to mark the document as accessible and enable full assistive technology support.

• Set the document language in the file properties so screen readers use the correct pronunciation rules.

• Include a descriptive document title in the metadata, not just the filename.

For help bringing existing documents into compliance, see AudioEye’s document remediation solutions.

Complete a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is typically required during federal procurement processes and when vendors enter contractor agreements with federal agencies. It's a self-assessment tool that analyzes an organization's products and content, including hardware, software, online content, and support documentation, for Section 508 compliance.

The Information Technology Industry Council(opens in a new tab) (ITI) publishes four VPAT versions, each mapped to a different standard:

• Revised Section 508(opens in a new tab) for U.S. federal agencies and their contractors

• EN 301 549(opens in a new tab) for European public procurement of ICT products and services

• WCAG(opens in a new tab) for organizations conforming to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

• INT(opens in a new tab), which incorporates all three standards above

Getting to Section 508 Compliance

While the checklist above may seem overwhelming, meeting Section 508 accessibility requirements is easy, especially with the right partner.

AudioEye combines automation, expert audits, and expert-written custom fixes in a single platform: the only solution that finds and fixes more WCAG violations than any other tool. Our automation resolves 50% of issues in real time, while our certified experts audit for the barriers that automation can’t catch and write custom fixes for what’s left. About 97% of issues are resolved before your team ever gets involved.

Ready to get started? Scan your digital content with our free Web Accessibility Scanner, then schedule a demo to see how AudioEye delivers 4x greater legal protection than automation- or consulting-only approaches.