Common Accessibility Questions

Esri is committed to building accessible products, services, and offerings. Accessibility is an ongoing effort and Esri follows a comprehensive approach, incorporating accessibility best practices into the software development lifecycle (SDLC).  Product development teams leverage various accessibility technologies to enhance products to support various assistive technology. With each release of ArcGIS, new accessibility features and capabilities are incorporated into Esri products and ongoing testing and evaluation help guide future enhancements.

Esri publishes information regarding product accessibility on disclosure forms called Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs). ACRs are designed to assist customers in evaluating compliance with accessibility criteria when selecting the product to best meet their needs. Information detailed in the Esri ACR is developed through product testing according to accessibility evaluation best practices and regularly involving external accessibility professionals to create non-biased reporting on ArcGIS products.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WCAG is currently viewed as the international standard for web content accessibility conformance levels. 

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 are designed to be “backwards compatible”, which means content or reporting that refers to WCAG 2.2 also includes WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.0. WCAG success criteria are organized into three levels of conformance: A (minimum), AA (includes A, current US standard), and AAA.

Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires that electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 applies to federal departments and agencies. It does not regulate the private sector and does not apply to recipients of federal funds.

WCAG conformance is now included within Section 508 regulations. In 2017, the US Access Board published a rule on requirements for information and communication technology covered under Section 508. These requirements include incorporating the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 and applying Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements to websites, as well as to non-web electronic documents and software.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II states that state and local governments must publish content that is accessible to people with disabilities. Recently, the US Department of Justice added additional rules to the existing law to include adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 level AA. The ACRs produced by Esri incorporate these standards and provide information on product evaluations against these standards.

The use of Esri products does not, by itself, ensure that customer-created content conforms to applicable accessibility requirements. Customers should apply accessible design and implementation practices and conduct appropriate accessibility testing throughout content development.

EN 301 549 defines accessibility requirements for information and communication technology products and services and serves as a harmonized European standard supporting accessibility evaluation and procurement. Canada adopted it as the National Standard CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024, aligning Canadian ICT accessibility expectations with the European framework.

EN 301 549 incorporates and aligns with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), using WCAG success criteria as the foundation for many of its accessibility requirements. As a result, organizations seeking conformance with EN 301 549 are generally expected to meet the applicable WCAG criteria referenced within the standard.

Esri Technical Support is available to customers with specific types of licensing or support services, and cases can be submitted through a customer’s My Esri portal. The Esri Professional Services team provides a wide range of services to support accessible design, development, and configuration of Esri products. Esri also offers a number of resources that assist customers in accessibility configuration questions they may have, which can be found on the Esri Accessibility Resources page.