Website accessibility and Section 508 testing, done by hand.

Orygn audits, tests, and fixes websites for accessibility, against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA and Section 508. Your testing is performed by a certified DHS Trusted Tester, using the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's own process for testing Section 508 conformance. No overlays, no widgets, no "instant compliance" gimmicks. Real manual testing, and because Orygn is a development firm, real code fixes too.

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When it makes sense

Common reasons businesses reach out for accessibility work.

You got a demand letter, or you are worried about one

Digital-accessibility lawsuits and demand letters run into the thousands every year, and e-commerce sites are the most common target. A real audit and remediation reduces your exposure and shows a good-faith effort.

A customer or agency asked you for a VPAT

If you sell software or services to a government agency, university, or healthcare organization, they often cannot buy until you provide an Accessibility Conformance Report. Orygn tests the product and authors it.

You are a state or local government

State and local government websites and mobile apps must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA under the ADA Title II rule. The Department of Justice extended the compliance dates by one year in an interim final rule effective April 20, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 20902): entities serving populations of 50,000 or more now have until April 26, 2027, and smaller entities and special district governments until April 26, 2028. Orygn can assess where you stand and build a plan to get there. Deadlines verified against the Federal Register on August 5, 2026.

You are building or redesigning a site

The cheapest time to get accessibility right is while the site is being built. Orygn can design and develop it accessible from day one, tested as it goes, not bolted on afterward.

What the work includes

From testing to fixed code, the whole path is covered.

01

Manual accessibility audit

A hands-on WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA audit, not an automated-scanner PDF. Testing with keyboard, screen readers, and code review, reported per success criterion with severity, user impact, location, screenshots, and developer-ready remediation guidance.

02

Section 508 conformance testing

Section 508 testing using the DHS Trusted Tester process, the repeatable manual method aligned to the ICT Testing Baseline for Web that federal agencies rely on. Results reported in the standard conformance terms.

03

VPAT and ACR authoring

A completed VPAT, delivered as an Accessibility Conformance Report, stating conformance as Supports, Partially Supports, or Does Not Support, with the remarks buyers and procurement teams expect. The report you hand a government, university, or enterprise buyer to move a deal forward.

04

Testing and remediation, not just a findings report

Some larger accessibility vendors do remediate code. Many smaller audit-only practices do not: they deliver findings and "remediation guidance your developers can execute," which leaves you to find the development time. Orygn is a development firm, so the same people who log an issue can fix it and re-test it. Whoever you hire, ask one question early: is the fix included, or quoted separately afterward?

05

Re-test and validation

After fixes land, the same tester who logged the issues confirms they are resolved, so you have documented evidence, not just a claim.

06

Ongoing monitoring and training

Accessibility drifts every time a site changes. Orygn can re-check on a cadence and train your team so new content stays accessible instead of quietly regressing.

Section 508 and VPAT

Selling to government, education, or healthcare? You will need an ACR.

Section 508 requires that information technology bought by the federal government be accessible, and agencies generally cannot complete a purchase without an Accessibility Conformance Report for the product. The same expectation now shows up across state government, universities, and healthcare procurement. The blank template is published free by the Information Technology Industry Council, so anyone can download a VPAT; the work is in testing the product honestly and filling it in so it holds up when a procurement officer relies on it. Orygn tests your product with the Trusted Tester process and authors the report, independently rather than as a self-assessment. If you are a vendor trying to close a public-sector or enterprise deal, this is the document that unblocks it.

No overlays, ever

Why Orygn will not sell you a widget.

Accessibility overlays and widgets promise instant compliance and do not deliver it. They cannot reliably fix the underlying code, more than a thousand accessibility practitioners have signed a public statement saying so, and websites running an overlay are still sued regularly. In 2025 the Federal Trade Commission finalised a $1 million order against an overlay vendor over claims that its tool could make any website conform to WCAG. Orygn does not use, resell, or endorse overlays. Conformance work means testing manually against the standard and fixing the underlying code, and that is the approach Orygn takes.

Who tests your site

A certified DHS Trusted Tester.

Your accessibility testing is performed by a certified DHS Trusted Tester. Trusted Tester is a certification the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awards to individuals who pass its training and exam in the standardized process federal agencies use to test Section 508 conformance. That process is built on the ICT Testing Baseline for Web, so your results are consistent and defensible rather than a checklist run through a scanner. The certification is held by an individual rather than by a company, and the Department of Homeland Security does not endorse, certify, or recommend vendors.

Section 508 covers documents as well as websites, and Orygn works on both. Website and web application testing follows the DHS Trusted Tester process, which is where the certification applies. The Trusted Tester process covers web only; documents have their own published method, the Access Board's ICT Testing Baseline for Documents, and that is what PDF, Word, and PowerPoint files are tested against. Section 508 applies WCAG to documents with four criteria excepted, because bypass blocks, multiple ways, consistent navigation, and consistent identification describe sets of web pages rather than a single document (E205.4). Document work is scoped separately from web testing, and where a project needs both, the proposal says which is which. Orygn also supports federal and contract-driven work when the workflow calls for it.

FAQ

Common questions about accessibility and Section 508.

It depends on the size and complexity of the site. Rather than test every page, Orygn scopes the audit to a representative sample of your page templates and key flows for meaningful coverage without unnecessary cost, and scopes the work before it begins so you know the price upfront. Remediation and VPAT authoring are priced separately.
A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the form used to produce an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR): a document that states how your product conforms to Section 508 and WCAG, using the terms Supports, Partially Supports, and Does Not Support. If you sell software or services to a federal, state, university, or healthcare buyer, they will usually ask for an ACR before they can purchase. Orygn tests the product and authors the report.
No, and be cautious of anyone who does. There is no official ADA certification for websites, and no tool or audit can guarantee immunity from a lawsuit. What Orygn does is test your site against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA, document exactly where it conforms and where it does not, and help you fix it. That reduces your risk and demonstrates the ongoing, good-faith effort that regulators and courts actually look for.
No. Automated overlays and widgets cannot reliably fix the underlying code, and websites that install them are still sued regularly. The FTC has taken enforcement action against overlay marketing claims. Orygn does not use or resell overlays. Real accessibility comes from manual testing and fixing the actual code, which is what Orygn does.
Yes. Orygn tests and remediates accessibility across all the major platforms, including WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and custom-built sites and web applications.
Both. Most audit-only firms hand you a report and leave the fixing to you. Orygn is a development firm, so it can remediate the code directly and re-test to confirm the fixes, closing the gap where issues usually sit unresolved.
The VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the blank form, published by the Information Technology Industry Council. Once it is filled in with real test results for your specific product, the completed document is called an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). Buyers usually say "send us your VPAT" when what they actually need is a completed ACR, which is what Orygn produces.
Trusted Tester is a certification the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awards to individuals who pass its training and exam in the standardized process federal agencies use to test Section 508 conformance. The process is built on the ICT Testing Baseline for Web, so two certified testers evaluating the same page should reach the same result. It is a manual, repeatable method rather than an automated scan.
It depends on who you are. ADA Title II covers state and local governments. ADA Title III covers businesses considered places of public accommodation, which courts have applied broadly to websites. Section 508 covers federal agencies and, in practice, the vendors selling to them. Section 504 covers organizations receiving federal funding, including many healthcare and education entities. Orygn tests conformance to WCAG and Section 508 and does not provide legal advice; for a determination about your specific obligations, talk to a lawyer.
It depends on how many page templates and user flows are in scope, and whether you need remediation and a VPAT as well as the audit itself. Orygn scopes the work and gives you a timeline before anything starts, so the schedule is agreed upfront rather than discovered along the way.
No. There is no government or industry body that certifies a website, a product, or a company as Section 508 compliant or VPAT certified, and any vendor offering you a compliance certificate is selling something that does not exist. A VPAT is a self-declared conformance report: the accuracy rests on whoever tested the product and how honestly they filled it in. What can genuinely be certified is a person. The Trusted Tester certification is awarded by the Department of Homeland Security to individuals who pass its exam, which is why an independent report from a certified tester carries more weight with a procurement officer than a vendor's own assessment of itself.
Yes. Orygn can validate an existing audit, work through a report someone else produced, or take over remediation that stalled. An independent test is also useful when a buyer questions a self-assessment, since a third-party ACR generally carries more weight in procurement than one you wrote about your own product.

Next step

Tell us what you need tested, and we will scope it honestly.

Whether you need a WCAG audit, a Section 508 VPAT to close a deal, code-level remediation, or an accessible site built from scratch, a short conversation is usually enough to scope the first step. Based in the Houston, Texas area, serving businesses nationwide and remote.

Testing evaluates conformance to WCAG and Section 508 at a point in time and is not legal advice. Conformance is not the same as legal compliance, and no audit or tool can guarantee any legal outcome. Any site change can affect conformance.

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