You’re updating your website, translating customer documents or preparing a proposal, and someone asks whether everything is accessible. Then come the acronyms: ADA, WCAG, Section 508.
They’re often mentioned together, and as a Language Service Provider (LSP) many of our clients, understandably, wonder whether they mean roughly the same thing.
They’re connected, but each does a different job. Knowing the difference helps you give your team a clearer brief and avoid discovering missing requirements when you’re ready to launch.
Accessibility means making your content usable by people with disabilities. That could involve screen reader support, captions or forms someone can complete without a mouse. As MultiLingual reports, an estimated 16% of the world’s population has disabilities.
When you’re planning accessible multilingual content, those needs belong in the conversation from the start.
Section 508 Covers Federal Technology
If your business supplies documents, software or digital services to a federal agency, Section 508 may appear in your contract. It’s part of the Rehabilitation Act and requires federal agencies to make the technology they develop, purchase, maintain or use accessible to people with disabilities.
For you, that could mean delivering an accessible training course or properly structured translated PDFs. A document might look perfectly readable on screen but still present problems for someone using assistive technology. Without properly marked headings or a logical reading order, navigating it can become frustrating.
The Revised Section 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA criteria, alongside other requirements. Check which standards and deliverables your contract specifies before work starts.
This is where government experience matters when choosing an LSP. We need to understand how your files will be delivered and used, as well as which languages you need.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Has A Broader Reach
You don’t need a federal contract for accessibility to matter. The ADA is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in areas including employment, state and local government services, and businesses open to the public.
For your customer experience, think about someone booking an appointment, checking coverage or completing a purchase. If they can’t use the form, having the information somewhere on your website doesn’t solve the problem. They need a way to complete the task.
The Department of Justice explains that ADA obligations extend to web accessibility, although requirements differ by organization. State and local governments have a specific WCAG standard under Title II. Private businesses shouldn’t assume that same rule applies identically to them.
That distinction matters when someone promises to make your website “ADA compliant.” Ask what they’ll assess, what they’ll change and how they’ll test it. Addressing website translation pitfalls can help you catch related usability problems, but translation alone won’t establish accessibility.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Gives Your Team Technical Criteria
When your developer asks which accessibility standard to work toward, WCAG is likely to enter the discussion. The WCAG come from the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, and provide testable criteria for making digital content accessible.
They cover things like color contrast, keyboard navigation, text alternatives for images and understandable error messages. For example, a form shouldn’t rely only on a red outline to tell someone they’ve missed a required field. The person completing it needs to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.
There are different versions and three conformance levels: A, AA and AAA. Meeting Level AA means satisfying both the Level A and Level AA criteria.
WCAG is a technical standard, rather than a law by itself, but laws and contracts can require it. Agree on the applicable version and level before work begins. Your translation and layout process needs to support those requirements through the finished document.
Every Language Version Needs Attention
When we work with multilingual content, we have to consider what happens beyond the translated sentences. Image descriptions need translating. Form labels need to stay connected to their fields.
Captions need checking against the audio, including meaningful sounds that help someone follow what’s happening.
Even a small change can affect usability. Longer translated text might get cut off inside a button. A document’s language setting might still identify Spanish content as English, affecting how a screen reader pronounces it.
There’s a business reason to get language right, too. A 2020 CSA Research survey reported by Slator found that 76% of online shoppers preferred products with information in their native language.
Language access and disability access address different barriers, but your customer may need both.
Building checks into multilingual project management helps keep either from being overlooked. An accessible English version is a useful starting point, but every translated version still needs attention.
Start With What Your Customers Need
Before you commission work, identify the content, audience and requirements. Then agree who handles translation, accessibility fixes and testing. Ideally, this can all sit with your LSP so they own the responsibilities from beginning to end.
We’d also encourage you to ask what happens after an update. A revised form, replacement video or new language version needs checking again. Automated checks can help identify issues, but they don’t replace manual testing of how the content works.
Choosing the right language services starts with explaining what you need people to be able to do. That might be reading a benefits document or submitting an application independently. Once that’s clear, we can help you plan the language work around the people who’ll actually use it.
If you’re looking for help with accessibility-related translation requirements, we’d love to talk.
Consultations are free and there’s no obligation. You’re in safe hands with us as we’re ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 compliant, have over twenty years of professional translation experience, and have earned the trust of organizations around the world.
