Since 2015 there have been approximately 200 lawsuits filed in US Courts. There have been several hundred more demand letters sent to retailers, banks, credit unions, and restaurants threatening lawsuits. Nearly all of these have been settled out of court. One thing that nearly all settlements require is that the website feature a prominent mechanism for users to contact the website owner with accessibility concerns.
Tenon’s Accessibility Point-of-Contact service allows you to leverage the expertise of Tenon’s consulting staff to help you comply with this requirement. Tenon staff will triage and handle initial contacts from users. Our staff will receive the initial contact, verify the user’s concerns, and attempt to help the user. If the user requires additional assistance (i.e. making a purchase, managing an account, etc.) we forward the information we’ve gathered to your support staff. We will also provide actionable guidance to your development staff so that any technical concerns encountered by the user can be resolved quickly and effectively.
How it works
Installation and configuration
The “A11yPOC” (Accessibility Point of Contact) is installed on your site as a snippet of JavaScript, much like you would Google Analytics. The following JavaScript is inserted just before the closing body tag:
<script>
window.tenonA11yPoc = {
pocId: 'x6228gke0cf2',
selectorId: 'poc-button'
};
</script>
<script src="a11ypoc.js"></script>
The above JavaScript snippet allows you to configure a specific link/ button that, when activated by users, launches a dialog:
There are a number of additional configurations you can add, up to and including your own custom CSS so that the dialog matches your site’s look & feel.
Interaction and Contact Triage
As mentioned above, users who activate the link will see the dialog appear. The dialog is fully accessible and features a form into which users can document their concerns. The user fills out the form and hits the button labelled “Send”. Behind the scenes, the a11yPOC collects a handful of important details to assist in helping to triage the contact and determine what additional factors may be at play that causes problems for the user.
Upon submission, the ticket is added to Tenon’s Help Desk system. Tenon staff review and respond to each submission within 1 business day. Tenon staff will:
- Review the entry for completeness, accuracy, and relevance
- Attempt to help the customer and, if necessary,
- Escalate the issue to the appropriate staff on your team.
In the process of performing the above work, if Tenon staff discover an accessibility issue that was the cause of the user contact, we will document the relevant steps to reproduce the issue and our expert recommendation on what repairs need to occur to your site to reduce further problems for users.
Contact Us to Get Started
Tenon’s Accessibility Point of Contact Service helps you mitigate risks and/ or comply with legal settlement requirements by leveraging world class expertise in accessibility.
Contact us now to get started:
- Email: talktous@tenon.io
- Phone: +1 443-875-7343