How to write an accessibility statement (and why your site needs one)
An accessibility statement is a public page that says what accessibility standard your site targets, where it honestly stands, and how users can reach you when something doesn't work. It's one of the cheapest, highest-leverage accessibility artifacts a site can ship — and most stores don't have one.
Why it's worth having
- For your users: people who rely on assistive technology get a direct channel to report barriers — and a signal that reports will be heard.
- For your record: a dated, versioned statement is concrete evidence that accessibility is being actively managed, not ignored.
- For regulators and partners: frameworks like the European Accessibility Act expect published accessibility information, and enterprise procurement increasingly asks for it.
What goes in it
- Your commitment and scope — which site(s) the statement covers.
- The standard you target — for most sites, WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
- Current conformance status — stated honestly: 'partially conformant' is a legitimate, common status while remediation is in progress.
- Known limitations — the issues you know about and are working on. Honesty here builds credibility.
- How you test — automated scanning, manual checks, assistive-technology testing, and how often.
- A feedback channel — an email or form, with a realistic response commitment.
- Date and review cadence — when the statement was last updated and when it will be reviewed next.
What to avoid claiming
Don't declare your site '100% compliant' or 'fully accessible' unless testing genuinely supports it — overstated conformance claims are exactly what regulators have penalized vendors for, and they undermine the statement's credibility as documentation. An honest 'here's our standard, here's our status, here's how to reach us' is stronger than a perfect-sounding claim you can't back.
Keeping it current
A statement dated two years ago says the opposite of what you want it to say. Tie it to your scanning cadence: re-scan, fix, and refresh the statement's status and date on a schedule.
AdaChecked generates a publishable accessibility statement from your latest scan — on the website plans and in the Shopify app, including the free tier — so the status it reports is the status your last audit actually found.