WordPress ADA compliance: Four different things wrote your WordPress HTML.
None of them was you.
A WordPress page is assembled at the moment somebody loads it, out of a theme you bought, a page builder that generates its own markup, a stack of plugins that inject theirs, and whatever your editors pasted in. Every accessibility failure on your site was written by one of those four.
No plugin can reach all of them, because a plugin runs last, after the page already exists. We work the other way: we find which layer produced each failure and we repair it there, in your child theme, your builder output, your plugin templates and your content.
- No plugin, no overlay
- Staging first, never your live site
- Survives theme updates
- U.S.-based
Your theme layer 1
Heading structure, landmarks, link and button semantics, focus states.
Your page builder layer 2
Elementor, Divi, Beaver or Gutenberg, each emitting its own wrappers and headings.
Your plugins layer 3
Forms, sliders, popups, galleries and WooCommerce, injecting markup you never wrote.
Your content layer 4
Media library alt text, pasted tables, uploaded PDFs, embedded video.
An accessibility plugin loads after all four. That is the whole problem.
40% of all websites run on WordPress — making it the platform we remediate most. The ADA applies to your site regardless of how it is built, and your theme, plugins and uploaded content are all in scope. — W3Techs, 40.2% as of September 2026
The four layers, and what each one breaks
Knowing which layer produced a failure is the whole job. Fix it in the wrong place and it comes back on the next update, or it never really went away.
The theme
Your templates decide the skeleton of every page: what is a heading, what is a landmark, what a link looks like when it has keyboard focus.
- Heading levels skipped in section titles and widgets
- No skip link, or one that goes nowhere
- Focus outlines removed for looks
- Link colour the only thing distinguishing a link from text
If your theme carries WordPress’s accessibility-ready tag, that is a floor rather than a finish line. The tag records that the theme met a defined set of requirements when it was reviewed. It says nothing about the three layers stacked on top of it, and nothing about whether your site meets WCAG once your builder, plugins and content are in place.
The page builder
Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder and the block editor each generate their own markup from what you dragged onto the canvas. You chose a look; the builder chose the HTML.
- Text styled to look like a heading but output as a paragraph
- Accordions and tabs with no keyboard support
- Decorative background images carrying meaning
- Column order on mobile that no longer matches reading order
The plugins
Contact forms, sliders, popups, galleries, booking widgets and WooCommerce all inject their own markup into your pages, and most were not built with assistive technology in mind.
- Form fields with no label, or a placeholder doing the job
- Required fields and errors never announced
- Popups that cannot be closed by keyboard
- Sliders that auto-advance with no pause control
Your content
Years of posts, pages and uploads, added by people who were never told any of this mattered. This layer is usually the largest and the cheapest to put right.
- Media library images with no alt text, or a camera filename
- Tables pasted from a word processor with no header row
- Links reading "click here" or "read more" out of context
- Uploaded PDFs that are scans of paper
What each approach actually does
WordPress is the only platform where all three are one click away in the same plugin directory. They are not variations of the same thing.
An accessibility plugin
Installs into WordPress and adds a toolbar, or adjusts a handful of attributes as the page renders.
- What it changes
- Adds its own markup on top. Your theme, builder and plugins are untouched.
- Honest use
- A text-resize or contrast toolbar is a genuine convenience for some visitors.
- The limit
- It runs last, so it cannot repair the four layers that already produced the page.
An overlay widget
A third-party script that loads on every page and attempts automated repairs in the visitor's browser.
- What it changes
- Nothing in your site. Remove the script and every barrier is exactly where it was.
- The record
- In 2025 the FTC approved a consent order against accessiBe, the largest vendor, with a $1 million penalty, over claims that its overlay made sites ADA compliant and protected them from lawsuits.
- The limit
- The FTC found the technology could not address many categories of WCAG failure.
Source remediation
We find which of the four layers produced each failure and correct it there, in the source.
- What it changes
- Your child theme, your builder output, your plugin templates and your content.
- If you stop paying us
- Nothing happens. The fixes are in your site and they are yours.
- What a claim looks at
- Your page source, plus a dated record of every change we made.
If you already run one, see how to remove it safely.
Will it survive my next update?
This is the first thing WordPress owners ask, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a reassurance. It depends entirely on which layer the fix was written into.
Content and media
Alt text, link wording, table headers and heading levels in your posts and pages live in your database. No update touches them, ever.
Page builder output
Builder layouts are stored in the database too, not in theme files. Updating the builder or the theme does not overwrite them.
Theme templates
Template fixes go into a child theme, which parent-theme updates never overwrite. If your site has no child theme, we create one as part of the work.
Plugin templates
Where a plugin supports template overrides we use them, so its updates leave our work alone. Where it does not, we tell you plainly and record it.
Running WooCommerce?
Then you have a fifth layer, and it is the one that carries the most risk. E-commerce is the most-sued category in web accessibility, and checkout is where an inaccessible site stops being an inconvenience and starts being lost revenue and a legal exposure at the same time.
- Variation selectors reachable by keyboard
- Cart updates announced, not silent
- Checkout errors tied to their fields
- Product gallery focus handled properly
- Product images given real alt text
How a WordPress remediation runs
You get a written scope and a fixed price before anything starts, and your live site is never the thing being worked on.
Assessment
Five minutes of questions: your theme, your builder, your plugin list, roughly how many pages, and whether you run WooCommerce or host PDFs. A written scope and price comes back within one business day.
Audit on a staging copy
We clone the site and test every template against WCAG 2.2 AA. Each finding names the page, the element, the criterion it breaks, and which of the four layers produced it.
Repairs at source
Child theme for template fixes, builder output for layout, template overrides for plugins, and your media library and content for the rest. Standard turnaround 7–10 days, rush 1–3.
Review and documentation
You approve the staging site before anything goes live. You keep an audit report, a dated record of every change, and an accessibility statement for the site.
What WordPress owners ask first
Will a theme update wipe out the fixes?
No, because of where each fix is written. Content and media library corrections live in your database and survive everything. Template fixes go into a child theme, which parent updates never overwrite. Builder output is stored in the database, not in theme files.
If your site has no child theme, creating one is part of the work rather than an extra.
Can an accessibility plugin do this instead?
No. A plugin runs after your theme, your builder and your other plugins have already produced the page. It can add a toolbar or adjust a few attributes, but it cannot rewrite the templates that created the problem.
Some of what is marketed as an accessibility plugin is an overlay, which is the category the FTC has already acted against.
Do you work on my live site?
No. Everything happens on a staging copy, you review it, and it deploys when you approve. If you have no staging environment we set one up. Your live site does not change until you say so.
My site was built by an agency. Do you need them involved?
Usually not. We need administrator access, and access to staging if one exists. Every change is documented so your agency or developer can see exactly what was altered and why, which also means they can maintain it afterwards.
What about the PDFs in my media library?
Uploaded documents are in scope under the ADA, and on WordPress they are a common finding, especially for schools, clinics and government bodies. The assessment counts what you actually have and prices remediation separately, rather than folding a guess into the total.
What does it cost?
It depends on page count, how many builders and plugins are in play, and whether WooCommerce and PDFs are in scope. That is what the assessment establishes, and you get a fixed written price before any work begins. Current pricing is published here.
Some eligible small businesses may qualify for the federal Disabled Access Credit for qualifying accessibility expenditures. Ask your tax professional whether your project qualifies. Estimate yours.
Can you guarantee I will not be sued?
No, and nobody honest will. That is the specific claim the FTC penalised accessiBe for making. What we can do is repair the barriers in your source and hand you a dated record of what was wrong, what changed and when, which is the thing that actually helps when a claim arrives.
Not ready for the assessment?
The five-minute assessment is the fastest way to a written price, and it is where most people start. If you would rather ask something first, use the form and a person answers within one business day.
- Start the assessment instead Five minutes, no sales call, written scope and price. Begin the assessment.
- Answering a demand letter Time-sensitive work is prioritised and handled separately. Emergency guidance.
- Not sure WordPress is the issue Compare how the same failures show up on Shopify.
Ask us about your site
Tell us what you need and we will reply within one business day. Nothing here is a commitment and you will not be added to a sales sequence.
This opens your email app with the message ready to send, so nothing is stored on this page. You can also write to us directly at info@compliapoint.com.
Related resources
Written for site owners rather than developers.
Find out which layer is failing you
Five minutes of questions about your theme, your builder and your plugins. We come back with a written scope and a fixed price. No call, no obligation, no automatic charge.
Some eligible small businesses may qualify for the federal Disabled Access Credit for qualifying accessibility expenditures. Ask your tax professional whether your project qualifies.