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Overlay Position and Recommendations

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) has published a statement outlining its position on controversial accessibility overlay widgets/plugins. This can be referred to as an authoritative position on the subject, alongside other community efforts such as https://overlayfactsheet.com.

It is a short statement, so worth reading fully in its own right. But here are a couple of highlights:

[IAAP acknowledges] “the deceptive nature of marketing claims that a single addition of a line of code… provides full compliance with web accessibility standards, mandates, regulations, or laws currently.”

However, it is noticeably more open to the technology than other resources I’ve read. For example:

“IAAP recognizes the importance of automating functions related to accessibility and that artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies have great potential in improving accessibility. IAAP calls upon Overlay providers to engage with advocacy groups and the broader accessibility community to ensure that Overlays are developed and implemented in a way that improves access to websites and applications.”

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