Accessibility Overlays

Websites About Overlay Tools

• Overlay Fact Sheet: created by Karl Groves in March 2021 and signed by dozens of accessibility advocates and experts. (By 27 August 2024, over 880 accessibility experts, accessibility advocates, software developers and other people in the accessibility and disability field had signed the factsheet.)
• Spellacy, Michael: Should I Use An Accessibility Overlay?
• Web Accessibility Overlays Do Not Work: a website created by Karl Groves that demonstrates and explains a number of accessibility problems that generic overlay tools cannot repair. The source code for this page is available on GitHub. The GitHub repository also contains a wishlist of ideas that others can contribute to.
• Truth in advertising does not exist for overlay vendors: another website by Karl Groves.
• AccessiByeBye: Web accessibility overlays don't work. Wave them all bye-bye in one free and easy step, with AccessiByeBye! AccessiByeBye is an add-on for Google Chrome. The GitHub repository accessibegone was last updated in June 2021.) (Accessed on 07.02.2024.)

Articles

Overlay products are sold as tools that magically solve a website's accessibility issues. It sounds too good to be true because it is.

Before 2016

• Lennartsson, Carin: Accessible websites by Dixerit, Accessible websites by Dixerit, 04.02.2009.

  Lennartson writes: For visually impaired and partially sighted users, w3c compliance alone is often not enough to successfully navigate and use your website. Enabling Dixerit Plus allows those with visual impairments or low reading ability to access your website quickly and easily. Using highest quality online text to speech conversion and other tools for magnification and contrast overlays your website can reach the largest possible audience. See also the YouTube video Contrast website overlay tool helps dyslexic users - from Dixerit (4 minutes, 04.02.2009). The blog and the YouTube channel have not been updated since 2009.

• Collis, Geoff: Updated: “Essential Accessibility” is “Not Essential to Meeting the Integrated Accessibility Regulation (IAR), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 14.04.2011, updated on 01.07.2011.
• Groves, Karl: Can Assistive Technology Make a Website Accessible?, Karl Groves, 19.04.2012 (last accessed on 06.01.2024).
  This blog post is about products such as ReadSpeaker, eSSENTIAL Accessibility and BrowseAloud, which can read pages aloud using text-to-speech synthesis. These products' vendors make deceptive claims about the users that benefit from them. Thie blog post does not use the term “overlay”.
• Groves, Karl: When the treatment is worse than the disease, Karl Groves, 13.11.2015.
  A blog post about per-site accessibility tools that claim to make your site more accessible (but don't). Thie blog post does not use the term “overlay”.

2016

• Ruh, Debra: Should Accessibility Overlay Tools Be Used as a Strategic Part of your Accessibility Efforts, Huffington Post, 04.01.2016.

  Debra Ruh writes that some overlay tools appear to have become robust enough to become part of an organizations accessibility roadmap and plan. However, the article appears to lump together two types of web-based tools: on the one hand, widgets that can be embedded into websites in order to provide users with tools that change certain characteristics of a website (font size, contrast, etcetra), and developer tools on the other hand.
  sitecues is a SaaS accessibility product that builds zoom and speech capabilities right into websites, so people with low vision other visual and print difficulties can more easily see and hear content. This sounds much more modest than Debra Ruh's description of sitecues as a software-as-a-service technology that can make any website more accessible and usable.
  Access Alchemy can be used as a test and repair tool by web content authors; as Level Access writes under the heading “Don’t bug the dev team”, Fix the most common and high-priority issues with no changes to source code, page functionality, appearance, or load time. Repairs can now be done by any web-savvy member of your team, regardless of whether they can read or write code. Access Alchemy is clearly not an overlay tool for end users.
  In August 2018, User1st's offer consisted of a tool for users, uRemediate, and two tools for the website owner or developer, namely, uTester and uMonitor. This offer has changed since then.
  Debra Ruh does not mention that most accessibility issues cannot be detected, let alone repaired, by automated tools, although she should be aware of this.

• Groves, Karl: On Overlays as a means of resolving website accessibility issues, Karl Groves, 07.01.2016.
  A response to Debra Ruh's article in Huffington Post.
• Milliken, Neil: Is Accessibility Middleware Really The Equivalent Of Snake Oil?, atrophiedmind, 16.01.2016.

2018

• Groves, Karl: Automated Lies, with one line of code, Karl Groves, 25.05.2018.
  This article does not use the term “overlay” but it is clear what it is about.

2020

• Byrne-Haber, Sheri: Overlays are not the solution to your accessibility problem, Medium, 14.01.2020 (4-minute read).
• Moynat, Julie: Les outils de surcouche d’accessibilité web : mensonges et boules de gomme, La Lutine du Web, 02.03.2020, updated on 22.12.2023.
• Hunt, Richard M.: Is there a silver bullet for ADA website accessibility? Sorry, but the answer is no., Accessibility Defense, 31.03.2020. (The point of view of a lawyer.)
• Kornmeier, Tony: Not All Accessibility Overlays Are Created Equal, Deque blog, 06.04.2020.
• Rivenburgh, Kris: The Death of Accessibility Overlays, ADA book (on Medium), 12.04.2020.
• Henry, Brad: Accessibility Overlays in Digital Content, TPGi blog, 13.05.2020.
  Update 14.01.2025: this article is now titled Accessibility Overlays: What They Are and Why They Fall Short and attributed to Melissa Morse, who updated the original article in August 2024.
• Faulkner, Steve: Bolt-on Accessibility – 5 gears in reverse, TPGi, 13.05.2020.
• Accessibility widgets: How accessible are websites using them?, Allerlay Wonesky Media blog, 02.06.2020. (This article is about overlays even though it uses that term only once.)
• Roselli, Adrian: #accessiBe Will Get You Sued, Adrian Roselli, 29.06.2020. See also the update accessiBe May Have Lied about JAWS (9 March 2021) (09.03.2021).
• Alexiou, Gus: Can AI Save Web Accessibility From An Impending ‘Market Failure’?, Forbes, 30.06.2020.
  Quotes: Currently, accessiBe is powering more than 37,000 websites and is already an industry market leader in automation, providing its services to the likes of Hilton, Billabong, Volvo, BMW and others. With costs ranging from five to fifteen thousand dollars to address ongoing website accessibility issues, [AccessiBe CEO] Ekerling is convinced that only an automated solution like accessiBe offers the requisite scale and affordability for small businesses. As far as web accessibility is concerned, [Level Access CEO] Springer is skeptical about the capacity of a purely AI-based solution to achieve both legal compliance and maintain full access from a technical standpoint. Springer also adds, To be both effective and legally compliant this class of solutions need to identify themselves as being part of an overall solution, which also involves manual website monitoring and testing. Staff working on the website also require extra training.
• Springer, Timothy: Do Accessibility Overlays and Widgets Provide 'Full and Equal Access'​ as Required Under the ADA's General Rule?, LinkedIn, 30.06.2020.
  The short answer is that accessibility overlays don't make a website ADA compliant. Level Access used to have a product called Access Alchemy that automatically fixed several types of accessibility issues in web pages. As understanding of the ADA requirements grew, this approach was abandoned. Springer says, In theory this class of technology—specifically overlays—could be used to provide accessibility and meet ADA compliance. The issue is that in practice, 99% of the time it doesn't. The remainder of the article looks at three concepts from the ADA and points out where accessibility overlays are deficient.
• Groves, Karl: What would an ethical overlay look like?, Tenon blog, 10.07.2020.
• Springer, Timothy: Is Deploying an Accessibility Overlay or Widget Better Than Doing Nothing?, LinkedIn, 14.07.2020.
  The first sentence answers the title's question: No, and in my view, many times its worse. An update added later on (presumably after the announcement of the acquisition of an overlay vendor in December 2023) says, Since the publication of this post, I have closely monitored the advancement of overlay technology capabilities. My position on these tools has evolved based on many factors, including the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on automated remediation. My current perspective is captured in our blog post, My Perspective: Digital Accessibility and Overlays.
• Springer, Timothy: Is it Okay to Use an Accessibility Overlay as a Temporary Solution?, LinkedIn, 16.07.2020.
  In short, Timmothy Springer argues that overlays don't work as a temporary solution for a variety of reasons. First, The overlay doesn't fix all the issues. Second, The issues don't stay fixed. And third, During the time patch is in place the site is actively deploying a separate but equal approach for accessibility. Springer also points out that these fixes are rarely temporary.
• Honor the ADA void Web Accessibility Quick-Fix Overlays, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 10.08.2020.
• Overlay Accessibility Solutions Fail ADA Website Compliance, Propeller blog, 24.10.2020.
• The Many Pitfalls of Accessibility Overlays, eSSENTIAL Accessibility, 27.11.2020.
• The Many Pitfalls of Accessibility Overlays, Level Access blog, last updated on 27.11.2020 (accessed on 11.11.2023).
  Quote: The inadequacies of accessibility overlays are common knowledge in the accessibility industry, with most experts agreeing they’re only capable of detecting 20-30% of issues occurring on your website. This means that 70-80% of issues will not even be detected by an overlay, let alone addressed.
  (WeCo was an IAAP member when this blog post was published.)

2021

• Wehrmann, Lynn: Overlays and User Tools: A User’s Perspective, WeCo Digital Accessibility, 15.01.2021 (accessed on 11.11.2023, 09.12.2024).
  (WeCo was an IAAP member when this blog post was published.)
• Dolson, Joe: AccessiBe & the fake WordPress plug-in reviews, Joe Dolson Web Accessibility blog, 17.01.2021.
• Wehrmann, Lynn: Are Accessibility Overlays Overbaked?, WeCo Digital Accessibility, 21.01.2021.
• Günstig oder kostenlos – barrierefrei mit Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI)?, Barrierekompass, 07.03.2021.
• Should I use an accessibility overlay?, The A11Y Project, 08.03.2021.
• Dolson, Joe: The Dangerous Path of the Accessibility Overlay, Joe Dolson Web Accessibility, 09.03.2021.
• Feathers, Todd: People With Disabilities Say This AI Tool Is Making the Web Worse for Them, Vice, 17.03.2021.
  This article is mainly about AccessiBe. Quote: “It’s not fair to put AccessiBe in the category of tech designed for disabled people given everything disabled people and allies have shared,” Haben Girma, a human rights lawyer and the author of the book “Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law,” told Motherboard. “You can take the time to learn to make your website accessible. You absolutely can do it, it’s a matter of time.”
• Zadrożny, Jacek: Nakładki poprawiające dostępność stron internetowych – nie wierzcie w to, Informaton.blog, 29.03.2021. In Polish; Google Translate translates the title as Accessibility Overlays for Websites – Don’t Believe It.
• Altinier, Armony: Koena mise en demeure par FACIL’iti, Koena, 22.04.2021.
  See also the two relevant tweets: (…) NON, @FACIL_ITI ne permet pas de rendre #accessible son #site aux personnes en situation de #handicap, mais modifie seulement l’apparence des pages ! (…),
  Donc pour être clair, @FACIL_ITI ne rend pas #accessible des #formulaires, #images cliquables ou autres obstacles rencontrés par les #internautes en situation de #handicap, et n’assure pas non + la conformité au #RGAA! Ce n'est pas une solution miracle d'#AccessibilitéNumérique!.
  See also French Overlay Company Sues Advocates for Their Role in the Global Overlay Conversation (Law Office of Lainey Feingold, November 2021), where this is referred to as a SLAPP suit: a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
• Was können Overlays, Plugins und KI-Barrierefreiheit?, Barrierekompass, 29.04.2021.
• Bhawalker, Gina: What’s Wrong With Quick-Fix Products For Digital Accessibility, Forrester blog, 04.05.2021 (accessed on 11.11.2023).
  Quote: Experts I interviewed for my most recent research confirmed that the automation these products rely on can only detect and resolve 50% of accessibility defects at best, and sometimes less.
• Avoid AccessiBe & other companies claiming quick & easy AI accessibility (Haben Girma on YouTube, 3 minutes, 05.05.2021).
  Haben Girma is deafblind disability rights advocate.
• Glaser, April Blind people, advocates slam company claiming to make websites ADA compliant, NBC News, 09.05.2021.
  Quotes: In recent months, blind people and disability advocates have been speaking out on social media and suing companies that use AccessiBe. Blind people say AccessiBe, which is supposed to automatically make websites more compatible with the screen readers blind people rely on to access the internet, has prevented them from all sorts of normal activities online, like paying rent, teaching a class or buying Christmas gifts. [Karl Groves] analyzed 50 websites that use AccessiBe and testified that he found thousands of problems on the sites that could interfere with their compatibility with screen readers.
  AccessiBe is the largest automated accessibility company on the market, according to Lucy Greco, who is blind and the head of web accessibility at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Lederman, Michaela: A User's Guide to Accessibility Widgets, Aten, 13.05.2021.
• Morsbach, Jörg: Accessibility-Overlays – alles gesagt, fronta11y, 20.05.2021.
• Byrne-Haber, Sheryl: Concerns with Accessibe joining W3C, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Interest Group (IG) Discussion list, 27.05.2021.
• Boudreau, Denis: The single biggest threat to the future of digital accessibility, LinkedIn, 31.05.2021.
• Bourdon, NOémie; Bonaventure, Simon: Outils de surcouche d’accessibilité : que valent-ils vraiment ?, Empreinte Digitale, le blog, 01.06.2021.
  See also Simon Bonaventure's LinkedIn post from December 2023.
• Stephen Clower: AccessiBe Gone: Instructions for blocking AccessiBe and similar intrusive overlays, last updated on 11.06.2021.
• National Convention Sponsorship Statement Regarding accessiBe, National Federation of the Blind, 24.06.2021.
• Bundy, Keith: Seen through the eyes of a blind user: Why overlays are not the answer to web accessibility, Siteimprove blog, 24.06.2021.
• Alexiou, Gus: Largest U.S. Blind Advocacy Group Bans Web Accessibility Overlay Giant AccessiBe From Its National Convention, Forbes, 26.06.2021.
• Cook, Anna E.: There’s no such thing as fully automated web accessibility, UX Collective, 15.07.2021.
  (Contains a long list of references to relevant articles, blog posts and news stories.)
• Westerhoff, Eva; Rietveld, Rian: Zin en onzin over accessibility overlays, Level Level blog, 20.07.2021.
  English translation: Accessibility overlays: common sense and nonsense.
• Bailey, Eric: accessiBe and the false David vs. Goliath narrative, Eric Bailey, 22.07.2021.
• Watson, Léonie: AccessiBe and data protection?, Tink, 27.07.2021.
• Williams, Gareth Ford: What Are Accessibility Overlays And What Are They Good For?, LinkedIn, 04.08.2021.
• La realidad sobre los Overlays en accesibilidad web, Glocal Quality Solutions, 26.08.2021.
• Bird, Daisy: Why accessibility overlays do not improve site accessibility, Scope for business, 03.09.2021.
• Webinar: Wie funktioniert ein Overlay-Tool?, Kompetenzzentrum für digitale Barrierefreiheit, Hochschule der Medien, 22.09.2021.
  Announcement of a webinar; the slides can be downloaded in PowerPoint format; a recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.
• Help for my lawyer’s fees in the FACIL’iti lawsuit against me, La Lutine du Web, 17.10.2021, updated on 09.12.2023.
  See also Lawsuit against French web developer Julie Moynat (Law Office of Lainey Feingold, November 2021).
• Why Accessibility Overlays On Your Website Can Make Things Worse, Bureau of Internet Accessibility blog, 25.10.2021.
  Update (29.03.2024): this blog post is no longer available. BOIA was acquired by overlay vendor AudioEye in March 2022.
• Legal Update: Accessibility Overlay Edition, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 03.11.2021, updated on 20.04.2022.
• Webinar: Overlay-Tools als Unterstützung für barrierefreie Websites – Potenziale und Grenzen, Kompetenzzentrum für digitale Barrierefreiheit, Hochschule der Medien, 25.11.2021.
  Webinar presenting the results of a master's thesis by Niklas Egger about overlay tools. The thesis compared accessiBe, EqualWeb and UserWay based on several metrics. The thesis was supervised by Gottfried Zimmermann and Christophe Strobbe. The thesis can be downloaded in PDF format, the slides can be downloaded in PowerPoint format and a recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.
• Simonite, Tom: This Company Tapped AI for Its Website—and Landed in Court, Wired, 11.11.2021.
  Intro: Last year, Anthony Murphy, a visually impaired man who lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, visited the website of eyewear retailer Eyebobs using screen reader software. Its synthesized voice attempted to read out the page’s content, as well as navigation buttons and menus. Eyebobs used artificial intelligence software from Israeli startup AccessiBe that promised to make its site easier for people with disabilities to use. But Murphy found it made it harder.

2022

• Xu, Tammy: Accessibility Overlays May Not Make Your Site More Accessible, Built in, 11.01.2022. Subtitle: There’s no shortcut to truly accessible design.
• Les outils de surcouche d’accessibilité : si c’était si facile…, Ekino, 17.01.2022.
• Steenhout, Nicolas: Open Letter to IAAP against overlay providers, Part of a Whole, 17.01.2022.
• Nakata, Ken: State of Overlays & My Work with IAAP on Grievance Process and Policy Infrastructure, International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), 27.02.2022.
• Overlay Position and Recommendations, International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) (undated; released in early 2022).
  Quote (retrieved on 02.08.2022): IAAP believes that Overlays, plugins, or widgets must never impede access to users’ assistive technology, choice of browsers and/or operating system features. IAAP therefore does not support members making false claims about any products or services which could be harmful, either directly or indirectly, to end-users, including people with disabilities, or the integrity of the accessibility profession. More specifically, in relation to Overlay technologies, at this time companies should refrain from using marketing language implying that a website or application can be made fully accessible to all people with disabilities by simply installing a plugin or widget without requiring additional steps or services. Note that the phrases does not support and companies should refrain from don't constitute strong condemnation.
• Wtyczki i dodatki zwiększające dostępność stron internetowych opartych na WordPressie, Biuro ds. Osób z Niepełnosprawnościami Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (Office for People with Disabilities at the University of Warsaw), 28.02.2022. In Polish; Google Translate translates the title as Plugins and add-ons to increase the accessibility of WordPress-based websites. This article is about WordPress plugins that provide tools allowing users to change certain display characteristics. One of these is by UserWay, which promises WCAG 2.1 & ADA compliance starting with a single line of code and a Protective legal framework for your business (quoted from a screenshot in the article).
• Byrne-Haber, Sheri: International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) position statement on overlays, Sheri Byrne-Haber's Blog, 01.03.2022.
• IAAP Positioning Statement and Recommendations on Accessibility Overlay Tools, Monsido blog, 07.03.2022.
  This blog post explains what accessibility overlays are, what IAAP is, discusses IAAP's position statement and explains that Monsido's own PageAssist doesn't work as an overlay: Unlike most tools on the market, Monsido’s powerful PageAssist widget doesn’t actually work as an overlay, but instead makes changes to your site in real-time. It won’t make your website compliant with WCAG standards in 24 hours, or with a single line of code, but it will allow your visitors to customize the way they experience your website in helpful and engaging ways.
  PageAssist can be used to remove visual accessibility errors, parse on-page navigation, change the color scheme, font, font size, and more. We would never recommend using PageAssist as your sole web accessibility solution, but would rather encourage you to think of it as a handy and easy-to-use tool in your larger overall website experience toolbox. (…)
  Additional links about Monsido:
  • Acquia to Acquire Monsido, Expanding Commitment to Digital Accessibility, Website Optimization, and Compliance, Monsido, 14.11.2023.
    This article does not mention PageAssist, overlays or artificial intelligence. It contains the following paragraph: With the acquisition of Monsido, Acquia now offers a complete solution for building, managing, and delivering digital experiences that are fully optimized to meet modern website standards and digital content guidelines and that comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and web accessibility legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This seems to imply that Monsido has a solution for meeting accessibility standards fully automatically, which was not feasible at the time of this announcement.
  • Frequently Asked Questions: Acquia acquires Monsido, Monsido, 08.01.2024. (This page does not mention overlays or PageAssist.)
  • Acquia Completes Acquisition of Monsido, Yahoo! Finance (syndicated from Business Wire), 09.01.2024.
• AudioEye Acquires The Bureau of Internet Accessibility, PR Newswire, 10.03.2022.
  After this acqusition, BOIA removed its article critiscing accessibility overlays.
• Roselli, Adrian: Overlays Underwhelm: a11y NYC, Adrian Roselli 01.03.2022, updated on 13.04.2022.
• Wehrmann, Lynn: IAAP’s Stance on Accessibility Overlays, WeCo Digital Accessibility, 15.03.2022.
• Roselli, Adrian: My Cease & Desist from AudioEye, Adrian Roselli, 15.04.2022.
• Singleton, Jeff: A Different View into Accessibility Overlays, Converge Accessibility, 09.05.2022.
• Polson, Faye: Accessibility Overlays: Buyer Beware, Kanopi Studios blog, 19.05.2022.
• Groves, Karl: Overlays are here to stay. So are “male enhancement pills”., karlgroves.com, 13.06.2022.
• Do accessibility overlays work?, Perkins Access, 16.06.2022 (accessed on 11.11.2023).
  According to this article, overlays don't solve all accessiblity problems (usually less than 50%) and can cause new ones of their own.
• Groves, Karl: Why is IAAP giving special treatment to overlays?, karlgroves.com, 20.06.2022.
• Morris, Amanda: For Blind Internet Users, the Fix Can Be Worse Than the Flaws, The New York Times, 13.07.2022.
  Article based on the Patrick Perdue's experience with sites that use overlays. Quote: “I’ve not yet found a single one that makes my life better,” said Mr. Perdue, 38, who lives in Queens. He added, “I spend more time working around these overlays than I actually do navigating the website.”
• Groves, Karl: People with disabilities hate overlays, yet an overlay company is suing its critics, karlgroves.com, 13.07.2022.
  This blog post was removed or made invisible on 14.07.2022.
• Gemeinsame Einschätzung der Überwachungsstellen des Bundes und der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Informationstechnik zur Verwendung von Overlay-Tools, Überwachungsstelle des Bundes für Barrierefreiheit von Informationstechnik, July 2022.
• Accessibility overlays make the Web worse, not better: New York Times, Centre for Accessibility Australia, 26.07.2022.
• Great Job, UserWay! An Accessibility Overlay Made This Website Unusable (Adam Lowe on YouTube, 11:00 minutes, 22.08.2022).
  The video looks as a specfic site (at mccartin.com) that uses UserWay, where the overlay tool causes accessibility issues such as low contrast. After this, the site is also tested with WAVE. See also the blogpost The Issues with Website Accessibility Overlays (no date; accesed on 29.11.2023).
• Stellungnahme der Überwachungstellen zu Overlay-Tools, Barrierekompass, 24.08.2022.
  About the Gemeinsame Einschätzung der Überwachungsstellen des Bundes und der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Informationstechnik zur Verwendung von Overlay-Tools (July 2022), above.
• Groves, Karl: Neutrality isn’t an option when it comes to accessibility, karlgroves.com, 31.08.2022.
  Quote: More nefarious, in my opinion, is the long established practice of lying that is nearly universal among overlay vendors. With relatively few exceptions, overlay vendors are consistent in perpetuating a dozen types of lies when marketing their products. While some people may suggest that lying is somehow commonplace in business, it is not. Furthermore, it is illegal: (…)
• Roselli, Adrian: ‘Accessibility at the Edge’ W3C CG Is an Overlay Smoke Screen, Adrian Roselli, 01.09.2022.
  See also Adrian Roselli's tweet about the ‘Accessibility at the Edge’ community group (01.09.2022): The ‘Accessibility at the Edge’ W3C Community Group Is an Overlay Smoke Screen
  The good news is that, while its Call for Participation disallows comments (and its previous one deleted them), you can weigh in at W3C TPAC’s free online breakout session.
• Bahram, Sina: Sina Bahram's LinkedIn post about the ‘Accessibility at the Edge’ W3C CG, LinkedIn, 01.09.2022.
• Campbell, Alastair: Overlay comments, AlastairC, 14.09.2022.
• Fischer, Detlev: Overlays für mehr Barrierefreiheit? Warum das keine gute Idee ist, BIK BITV-Test (Blog), 16.09.2022.
• Overlays Underwhelm / Adrian Roselli #id24 2022 (Inclusive Design 24 #id24 on YouTube, 48 minutes, 22.09.2022).
• Why Accessibility Overlay Widgets Fail to Protect or Serve, Accessibility.Works, 22.09.2022.
• Accessibility-Overlays – aggressives Marketing, kaum Nutzen, Barrierekompass, 22.09.2022.
• Procès FACIL’iti contre Koena : mise à jour au 06 octobre 2022, Koena, 06.10.2022 (includes video with captions).
• WCAG issue #2750: Are there circumstances in which an overlay tool could be seen as providing a conforming alternate version for a non-conforming website?, GitHub issue tracker for WCAG, 25.10.2022.
• Barrierefreiheit mit einem Klick?, Pfennigparade, 07.11.2022.
• Gooding, Sarah: Meetup.com Removes Accessibility Overlay In Response to WordPress Community’s Concerns, WPTavern, 28.11.2022.
  In this case, the overlay tool was EqualWeb.

2023

• Zadrożny, Jacek: Dostępnik o magicznych nakładkach poprawiających dostępność, Dostępnik (Substack), 22.02.2023. In Polish; Google Translate translates the title as Accessibility with magical overlays that improve accessibility.
• Design de Plume: Why we don’t use accessibility overlays, LinkedIn, 03.02.2023.
  Compliance to accessibility standards and laws is not the ceiling with regard to accessibility; it is the floor. Overlay tools, however, over-promise and underdeliver. They can also do harm.
• Groves, Karl: The overlay personalization farce, Karl Groves, 27.02.2023.
  French translation by Eleanor Hac: La personnalisation par les surcouches : une illusion d’accessibilité (Access42 blog, 19.03.2024, updated on 20.03.2024).
• Aspiritech: Are Overlays Good Enough to Make My Website Accessible?, LinkedIn, 01.03.2023.
  This article explains that accessibility is not simply a matter of legal compliance, what overlays are, what types of issues overlays create, when it might make sense to make use of an overlay, what the risks are of using an overlay in the long term and whether they meet legal requirements. The section on issues created by overlays concludes that overlays are just a bandaid on a much larger wound.
• Will working for an overlay company like accessiBe completely ruin my reputation as a WAS?, Reddit Accessibility, question posted on 17.03.2023.
• Paul J. Adam on Twitter, 07.03.2023, #AccessiBS has a high salary range but I wouldn't sell my soul to the devil! #a11y
  Also they had a "Superball" commercial!? So did the Bitcoin scams.
  The tweet includes a screenshot of a message sent by a recruiter, presumably on behalf of AccessiBe. Dax Castro tweeted back on 8 March that AccessiBe had also tried to recruit him.
• Tomczyk, Cezary: Accessibility overlays – demystifying secrets, SiteLint blog, 01.04.2023, updated on 26.01.2024.
• Accessibility Overlay. Can they make a site fully accessible?, Fondazione LIA, 19.04.2023.
• Latham, Jackie: What’s the problem with accessibility overlays?, LinkedIn, 04.05.2023.
• IAAP / @IAAP.org on Twitter, 10.05.2023: Global Accessibility Awareness Day with @audioeyeinc & @simpleview: Ensure Your Website is Accessible to All.
  May 16, 12:00 PM Central Time
  Register: (…)
  AudioEye is an overlay vendor and a member of IAAP; the company sued Adrian Roselli in 2022 (see above).
• Felix, Andre: European Disability Forum and International Association of Accessibility Professionals joint statement on accessibility overlays, European Disability Forum (EDF), 17.05.2023. Note that one of the members of IAAP, AudioEye, is an overlay vendor.
• Scano, Roberto: Definitivo: gli accessibility overlay non rendono conformi i siti alla direttiva Europea di Accessibilità, Webaccessibile.org, 17.05.2023.
• Accessibility overlays don’t guarantee compliance with European legislation, European Disability Forum (EDF), 17.05.2023.
• Poareo, Juana: The problem(s) with accessibility overlays, LinkedIn, 20.05.2023.
• Posición de ASEPAU sobre los Overlays o Widgets de accesibilidad, Asociación española de profesionales de accesibilidad universal (ASEPAU), 30.05.2023.
• Taylor, Michael: Why Widgets Are Not Best For Digital Accessibility (Guest Post), Usablenet blog, 12.06.2023.
  This article discusses widgets that prompt screen reader users to turn off their screen reader. This seems to refer to overlay tools, since regular widgets don't do this.
• La privacidad y la seguridad, problemas añadidos a los overlays de accesibilidad, Glocal Quality Solutions, 15.06.2023.
• New Low in the Accessibility “Industry:” Overlay Company Sues Globally-Recognized Accessibility Expert, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 11.07.2023, updated on 29.01.2024.
  Article about AudioEye's lawsuit against Adrian Roselli.
• AudioEye versus Adrian Roselli: The SLAPP Heard Around the World, Creative Boost, 26.07.2023.
• Witucki, Kristen: Overlaying Overconfidence – My Lived Experience with Overlays, Tamman Inc, 08.08.2023, updated on 14.06.2024.
  Subtitle: Overlays seem like a good idea but as a blind woman they aren’t for me.
• Pickering, Heydon: What Are Accessibility Overlays?, Webbed Briefs, 25.09.2023 (video and transcript).
• Onsman, Ricky: Overlays: Just Another Disability Dongle, TPGi, 26.09.2023.
• Adrian and the Overlays, By My Eyes, 05.10.2023 (podcast and transcript).
• Groves, Karl: Ethical Problems with Overlays and How to Overcome Them, LinkedIn, 06.11.2023.
• Website Overlay: 1-Klick-Lösung für Barrierefreiheit?, Aktion Mensch, 21.11.2023.
• Groves, Karl: Today I bring to you a real-world demonstration of why so many accessibility advocates are against overlays., LinkedIn, early December 2023.
• La Commission européenne prend position sur les « overlays », Koena, 13.12.2023.
  This article is about the page about overlay tools in the European Commission's Web Guide, which is aimed at website owners at the European Commission, rather than the public at large.
• Caccavello, Fabrizio: Overlay per l’accessibilità: l’UE prende posizione sulla inutilità di tali strumenti, Webaccessibile.org, 13.12.2023.
• SIS Enable Why overlays aren't enough and How SIS Enable delivers comprehensive solutions, LinkedIn, 15.12.2023.
• Les outils de surcouche et la conformité au RGAA, DesignGouv, 18.12.2023.
  This article is about the page about overlay tools in the European Commission's Web Guide, which is aimed at website owners at the European Commission, rather than the public at large.
• Les outils de surcouche et la conformité au RGAA, DesignGouv, 18.12.2023.
  This article is about the page about overlay tools in the European Commission's Web Guide, which is aimed at website owners at the European Commission, rather than the public at large.
• Luján Mora, Sergio: ¿Qué opina la Comisión Europea sobre las capas de accesibilidad?, Accesibilidad Web (Universidad de Alicante.), 19.12.2023.
  This pages quotes the page about accessibility overlays in the European Commission's Europa Web Guide and provides a Spanish translation.
• Accessibilité numérique : la Commission européenne désapprouve les outils de surcouche, Association Valentin Haüy, 21.12.2023.
  This article is about the page about overlay tools in the European Commission's Web Guide, which is aimed at website owners at the European Commission, rather than the public at large.
• Cedeño, David E.: La Comisión Europea avisa del peligro de los overlays de accesibilidad, inSuit, 27.12.2023.
• Level Access Agrees to Acquire UserWay, Level Access, 31.12.2023.
  Subtitle: UserWay’s AI-powered accessibility technologies to enhance Level Access’s suite of leading digital accessibility solutions Quote: As part of Level Access, UserWay will continue to operate under its existing name and brand. Allon Mason will continue to lead UserWay as CEO and will become President of Level Access. The transaction is expected to close in early 2024, subject to approval by UserWay’s shareholders and receipt of customary regulatory approvals.
• Springer, Timothy: My Perspective: Digital Accessibility and Overlays, LinkedIn, 31.12.2023.
  After Level Access Agrees to Acquire UserWay (31.12.2023), Level Access CEO Timothy Springer now thinks overlays can work very well. See also the following comments on LinkedIn:
  • Timothy Springer's own post, with a lot of discussion threads. See for example the comments by Florian Beijers, a blind developer and auditor.
    Ian Hamilton points out (01.01.2024), I find it interesting to see how squarely this flies in the face of all of the articles that Tim has ever written about overlays in the past, including this one [Is it Okay to Use an Accessibility Overlay as a Temporary Solution?].
  • Lance Thunder's comment (01.01.2024),
  • Ronny Hendriks's comment (01.01.2024): Level Access announced its plans to acquire overlay producer Userway, what a sad news to end the year on... (…). See also the discussion below that comment.
  • Todd Libby's comment (01.01.2024): Level Access buying UserWay is akin to Elon buying Twitter. Let that marinate.
  • Nicolas Steenhout's comment (01.01.2024): I have thoughts about Level Access acquiring UserWays. They aren’t pretty. And this shit news will wait several days before I put my thoughts about it on paper. In response to the question, Is it possible they acquired it in order to do away with the overlay? he writes, Everything is possible. But reading Tim’s announcement, it doesn’t look likely.
  • Makoto Ueki's comment (01.01.2024): If I were the CEO, quit selling it to websites and remake it as a browser extension.
    And remove any functionalities OS/browsers are already providing and things which could cause issues for users. Finally sell it to OS/browser vendors so that users could enjoy it anywhere.
  • Améliane F. Chiasson's question (01.01.2024), People from the #a11y community... how are you feeling about this? Responses were posted by Ian Hamilton, Bryce Johnson (I feel that when adovcacy becomes dogma community growth stagnates. (…)), Joe Devon (I’m worried but hopeful. (…)) and Makoto Ueki.
  • Christopher Patnoe's comment (01.01.2024): (…) Dogma of any kind isn't helpful, and I'm excited to see what they come up with. Personally, I can see some interesting opportunities, as long as the needle is threaded thoughtfully and transparently. Overlays alone don't solve the problem, but ignoring the problem they're trying to solve won't help the communities we're here to serve either.
    The folks at Level are quite smart and have a history of doing good work, please be open.
    Tori Clark's first comment on this: (…) I didn't judge the acquisition. I judged this line by the CEO, which is problematic without qualifying it further: "The technology of overlays works. Truth is it actually works very well and does so at scale."
    That sentence is concerning. It is not dogma to find that statement troubling, and it's insulting to reduce others' read of the CEO's words as such when he uses the language of overlay companies as he does in his open letter. In a latter comment, they added, That letter also read as an "I want to make overlay lovers and overlay haters happy" letter, but all that's going to guarantee is that NO one likes Level Access.
    In a different comment thread, Samantha Evans responds to Hector Osborne Rodriguez's optimism: Their (UW's) new 2024 video claims their AI JS widget includes an ARIA remediation editor. Oh and it has a screen reader that's better than traditional screen readers because it's only for the web. And you can experience the web just like a person with a vision impairment.
    They are still selling with "misleading" tactics.
  • Kelly Ford's comment (02.01.2024): Talk about burying the lead. The headline should be Level Access Acquires UserWay. Much to digest here so I will reserve comment for now.
  • Steven Faulkner posted a new t-shirt design: Loserway (2 or 3 January).
  • EJ Mason's comment (04.01.2024): It's never just about the technology. We owe it to ourselves, our peers, and our users to do better. We owe it to Disabled people to interrogate ableism at every stage of our work. With its decision to purchase UserWay, Level Access sends us two very important reminders:
    (1) ableism is profitable, and (2) without a guiding ethic of disability justice, accessibility work can and will inevitably lead to harm.
  • Michele A. Williams's somewhat longer comment (04.01.2024)
  • Marc Haunschild's response (early January 2024): Nobody ever said, that overlays don’t work if implemented properly. They’re just not helpful. The automatic testing is better implemented in build processes like axe does. (…) There is a lot of information out there. No further contributions to this topic needed. Nothing changed. Overlays are not helpful! (…)
  • Newton, Keith: Level Access, Userway, and My Way (or thoughts, at least), LinkedIn, 05.01.2024.
  • Matt May's response to the UserWay acquisition (early January).
• AI Web Accessibility UserWay Acquired by Level Access, StartupHub.ai, 31.12.2023.
  This article also quote's UsableNet's report on the increase in ADA lawsuits: Interestingly, even with the use of accessibility widgets and overlays from providers such as accessiBe, UserWay, and AudioEye, there were 414 lawsuits filed against companies employing these technologies. By the end of 2023, it is estimated that there will be over 4,200 ADA website lawsuits, nearly double the number from 2018.
• Accessibility AI tech developer UserWay acquired by Level Access in $99 million deal, Ctech, 31.12.2023.

2024

• Tremblay, Marc: Suite de la saga des produits de surcouches (overlays) …, LinkedIn, early 2024 (?).
• Zufelt, Everett: As someone who has been deeply involved in web accessibility, I've witnessed a prevailing sentiment among professionals that overlays have (…), LinkedIn, 01.01.2024.
  Everett Zufelt, a screen reader user, has experienced many of the shortcomings of overlay tools himself. He says overlays couuld, in theory at least, become a game changer, but he also has a number of concerns. His first concerns is the variability in the quality of remediation. His second concern is that these tools may discourage proper website design for accessibility. Third, they could create a disparity between organisations that can afford these tools and those who cannot. (He does not discuss how the current costs of accessibility consultancy, proper website design and manual remediation, nor how inaccessibility can be very expensive.) Finally, AI models are nowhere near mature enough to execute enough evaluation criteria and remediation approaches, and it is unclear how quickly these models will evolve. He also adds, Perhaps the future lies in integrating these tools into common web browsers as optional accessibility features. Or, less ideally, offering them as commercial add-ons that consumers can purchase and control.
• Eggert, Eric: Level Access crosses the line; buys accessibility overlay company, Eric Eggert, 02.01.2024.
• Latham & Watkins Advises Level Access in Acquisition of UserWay, Latham & Watkins, 02.01.2024.
• Devon, Joe: One thing I meant to start in 2023 (…) was to launch an open source project to crowdsource some of the infrastructure that AI needs to make products like chatbots and copilots more accessible. (…), LinkedIn, 02.01.2024.
  The second part of this post responds to a comment triggered by Level Access's acquisition of UserWay, namely If someone can lead with the "right way" to use an overlay, then I can't imagine it'll make things worse, and I'm curious to see where it leads.
• Accessibility Widgets Are Not Enough for Screen-Reader Users (NNGroup on YouTube, 4:24 minutes, 03.01.2024).
  The Nielsen Norman Group looked at “accessibility widgets” that are sold as an easy fix to accessibility issues and tested several such widgets with screen reader users. In spite of the term “accessibility widgets”, Nielsen Norman Group's study seems to be about accessibility overlays. None of our [study] participants showed any interest in the widgets. Nobody opened the widgets of their own accord, even though they were the first thing in the tab sequence. One study participant said that providing a “screen reader” in this way was a waste of money, because anyone who needs one would have it on their operating system. Another participant said that they hated such widgets because they make companies feel like they don't need to actually work on making something accessible.
• Roselli, Adrian: #AudioEye Has Dropped Its Suit Against Me, Adrian Roselli, 03.01.2024.
• Scano, Roberto: Accessibility overlay: il test con gli utenti, Webaccessibile.org, 05.01.2024.
• Byrne-Haber, Sheri: What do you do when you find a site that claims to be accessible, but is using an overlay?, LinkedIn, a survey posted in early January 2024.
• Les outils de surcouche d’accessibilité : une fausse bonne idée, ethic first, 12.01.2024.
• Accessibility overlays, Europa Web Guide (European Commission), captured by Archive.org on 18.01.2024; other captures were made between 13.12.2023 and 30.04.2024.
• Logan, Thomas: Accessibility Advocates Sued by French Overlay Company, Equal Entry, 23.01.2024.
  Article about FACIL’iti's lawsuit against Koena.
• Parsy, Valentin: La fin des outils de surcouche applicative d'accessibilité, sfeir.dev, 24.01.2024.
• Feingold, Lainey: Overlays and Ethics: a conference panel that hurt my heart, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 26.01.2024.
  The reasons why Lainey Feingold objected to the scheduled overlays panel at the ZeroProject conference in February 2024 include the following. First, it was on all-male, all-white panel. Second, three of the seven panelists represented overlay vendors, including one vendor who was suing accessibility experts who had exposed the company's misleading claims about its tool. None of the four other panelists had signed the Overlay Factsheet. These are two reasons why the panel was biased.
• AudioEye Taps Accessibility Industry Veteran Mike Paciello as Chief Accessibility Officer, PR Newswire, 31.01.2024.
  On LinkedIn, Mike Paciello cites Fracis Scott Fitzgerald in a post linking to the above news: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise …
• Marc Haunschild, LinkedIn (31.01.2024).
  Quotes: Mein Wissensstand: Aktuell gibt es keine Software, die in der Lage ist, Verstöße gegen alle gesetzlichen Vorgaben festzustellen. Ein Teil der gefundenen „Verstöße“ sind zudem false positives.
  Daher kann es auch keinen automatischen softwaregestützten Prozess geben, der jede Website barrierefrei macht. Ein Fehler, der nicht gefunden wurde oder false positives, können nicht behoben werden. (…) Cookie-Zustimmung, Newsletter-Popups, Rabatt-Angebote: Viele Menschen sind überfordert von den vielen Mikro-Entscheidungen, die uns abverlangt werden. Overlays mit vielen Optionen erhöhen die mentale Belastung weiter.
• Overlay-Tools – Unterstützung oder Barriere beim Surfen im Web?, Teilhabe 4.0 Toolbox (no date; accessed on 31.01.2024).
• Confédération Française pour la Promotion Sociale des Aveugles et Amblyopes (CFPSAA): Accessibilité numérique : la Commission européenne se prononce sur les outils de surcouche, LinkedIn, February 2024.
• Reboul, Jérémy: Accessibilité: ne te laisse pas avoir par les belles promesses de certains outils technologiques!, LinkedIn, March 2024.
• muTum website: Accessibilité web : les outils de surcouche, une fausse bonne idée ?, LinkedIn, 05.03.2024.
• Barrierefreiheit von Webseiten und Accessibility Overlays (Stellungnahme des Fachausschusses für Informations- und Telekommunikationssysteme (FIT) beim DBSV), Deutscher Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband e. V. (DBSV), 19.04.2024.
• Barrierefreiheit von Websites: Stellungnahme des DBSV zu Accessibility Overlays, Kompetenzzentrum Selbstbestimmt Leben für Menschen mit Sinnesbehinderung Nordrhein-Westfalen (KSL-MSi-NRW), 25.04.2024.
• Barrierefreiheit auf Knopfdruck existiert nicht, Auctores, 25.04.2024.
• Accessibility overlays are not for disabled people, tempertemper, 11.05.2024.
  Quote: I’m sorry to say it, but those who benefit from accessibility overlays are the people that license and install the overlay software…
• Kubesch, Daniela: The Impact of Web Accessibility Overlays on the Usability and User Experience for People with Permanent Visual Impairments, DiVa Portal, published online on 25.06.2024.
  Master's thesis at School of Information Technology, Halmstad University, which can be downloaded in PDF format. (See also the LinkedIn post by Creative Technologies.)
• Kreer, Casey: Barrierefreiheit: Wie ein Atlas in die Irre führt, Netzpolitik, 01.07.2024.
  The Atlas digitale Barrierefreiheit gave the website of the city of Kiel, which relies on an overlay tool, a good score.
• Dolson, Joe: Overlays Misunderstand Accessibility, Joe Dolson Web Accessibility (blog), 02.07.2024.
• de Oliveira, Domingos: Atlas digitale Barrierefreiheit – oder wie man keine empirische Studie macht, Digitale Barrierefreiheit, 06.07.2024.
  This article points out that several of the criteria that were used to judge websites, i.e. widgets to adapt the font size, a read-aloud function and the provision of an easy-to-read version, can be fulfilled by overlay tools.
• New Class Action Lawsuit against AccessiBe, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 10.07.2024.
  Subtitle: Overlay Company Sued for Breach of Contract, Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing.
• Coyier, Chris: It’s really this thing that gets me., Chris Coyier, 13.07.2024.
• Arndt, Taylor: Are You Using an Accessibility Overlay and Want Out?, LinkeIn, around mid July 2024.
• Accessibility Overlays machen Websites nicht barrierefrei!, distriko blog, 19.08.2024.
• Barrierefreiheit: Ein Atlas auf dem Holzweg. Erste Schadenersatzklagen gegen Overlay-Lösungen, Auctores, 29.08.2024.
  Quote: Laut des Atlasses lässt sich eine Website per Overlay-Lösung automatisch barrierefrei machen – im Widerspruch zur Fachmeinung. One of the tips on the website Atlas digitale Barrierefreiheit says, Bevor Sie nichts umsetzen oder die Prozesse zu lange dauern: Nutzen Sie Overlay-Lösungen. Diese sind zwar nicht als nachhaltige Lösungen zu bezeichnen, schaffen aber kurzfristige Abhilfen. Bis Sie Ihre technisch Voll-Lösung umgesetzt haben.
• Païno, Audrey: Les outils de surcouche sont un tue-l’accessibilité, LinkeIn, early September 2024.
• Hunt Huey: Mootness – the Kraken of ADA defenses, Accessibility Defense, 13.09.2024.
  This article is not explicitly about accessibility overlays but mentions a conpliance claim by AudioEye that was not supported by a description of the methodology used, the audit's findings or an actual audit report. It also mentions an AccessiBe audit that did not describe the methodology used or the qualifications of the auditor. The blog's author adds that, The Court also notes that Accessibe reports have been found to be questionable in other cases.
• Steenhout, Nicolas: Level Access, a large accessibility consulting firm buys an accessibility overlay company. Level Access lays off a significant number less than 6 months later., LinkeIn (mid September 2024; accessed on 06.10.2024).
• Accessibility overlays, DigiToegankelijk (no date; accessed on 04.10.2024).
• Mauch, Christopher M.: The False Promise of Accessibility Overlays, LinkedIn, 21.10.2024.
• Ritter, Marli: Accessibility overlays won't make your website compliant with the European Accessibility Act (EAA), LinkedIn, 02.12.2024.
  Note: strictly speaking, the European Accessibility Act does not say anything about overlays (or about quick fixes in general), but accessibility overlays are simply not able to make a non-compliant site compliant.

2025

This section will not attempt to list every article and blog post about the fine that the Federal Trade Commission in the USA imposed on AccessiBe (even though it is tempting).

• FTC Order Requires Online Marketer to Pay $1 Million for Deceptive Claims that its AI Product Could Make Websites Compliant with Accessibility Guidelines, FTC, 03.01.2025.
  Quote: The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider accessiBe to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it misrepresented the ability of its AI-powered web accessibility tool to make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for people with disabilities.
• Wiggers, Kyle: FTC orders AI accessibility startup accessiBe to pay $1M for misleading advertising, TechCrunch, 03.01.2025.
• Van Gils, Roel; Strobbe, Christophe: Fixing digital accessibility issues with the press of a button: too good to be true?, Eleven Ways, 03.01.2025.
• de Oliveira, Domingos: Mythen zu Barrierefreiheits-Overlays, Digitale Barrierefreiheit, 04.01.2025.
  English version: Common Myths on Accessibility Overlays (05.01.2025).
• Beware of AI Accessibility Promises: US Federal Agency Fines an Overlay Company One Million Dollars, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 07.01.2025.
  Subtitle: Public can submit comments until February 5th in case against AccessiBe for misleading advertising.
  On LinkedIn, Haben Girma described this as thrilling news.
• Sokolov, Daniel A. J.: Accessible thanks to AI/? Fine for Accessibe plugin, Heise, 07.01.2025.
  German version: Barrierefrei dank KI? Geldstrafe für Accessibe-Plugin
• Roselli, Adrian: FTC Catches up to #accessiBe, Adrian Roselli, 08.01.2025.
  This blog post also references the relevant PDF documents.
• Paciello, Mike: FTC Ruling: Leaning In on Trust & Transparency, LinkedIn, 09.01.2025.
• Barrierefrei mit Overlays? Das kann teuer werden, Auctores, 20.01.2025.
• Haunschild, Marc: Mythos Accessibility Overlays, haunschild.de, 02.02.2025.
• Bisenzi, Enrico: Gli accessibility overlay rispettano le esigenze di accessibilità delle persone con disabilità?, LinkedIn, 11.02.2025.
• Web Accessibility, European Commission: Shaping Europe's Digital Future, updated on 13.02.2025 (accessed on 20.02.2025).
  This is not an article about overlays but mostly about the EU's Web Accessibility Directive. A section on accessibility overlays was added to it, possibly on 13.02.2025.
  The section about overlay tools

  The legal accessibility requirements in the EU are underpinned by technical criteria specified in the harmonised European standard EN 301 549 v3.2.1. Accessibility [overlays] are tools that can be added to websites with the aim of improving accessibility. Overlays, or any other tools which do not ensure the website itself meets the detailed criteria of the standard, are not an appropriate solution. It is best to fix accessibility issues at their source.

  Another good practice is to provide feedback on accessibility issues to those developing or maintaining digital tools, to ensure that those responsible learn about digital accessibility and avoid future problems. To ensure that websites are genuinely accessible, it is important to always involve persons with disabilities in testing.

  The European Disability Forum, users with disabilities and many accessibility experts have expressed concern about the use of overlays. For more information visit:

  • Joint statement by EDF & IAAP
  • Article by The A11Y project
  • Overlay Fact Sheet signed by nearly 900 accessibility experts.

• Another Web Access Overlay Company Sued by a Small Business, Law Office of Lainey Feingold, 16.02.2025.
  Subtitle: Class action lawsuit against UserWay alleges violations of Delaware Consumer Fraud Act and other laws.
• Jannin, Leslie: Outils de surcouche d'accessibilité : une mauvaise solution selon la Commission européenne, Adimeo, 20.02.2025.
• Overlay-Tools: Barrierefreiheit per Knopfdruck oder gefährliche Mogelpackung?, VON DER SEE, 20.02.2025.
• Scano, Roberto: La Commissione Europea sancisce: gli accessibility overlay sono inutili per la conformità, Web Accessibile, 21.02.2025.

List of Tools

Below is a list of overlay tools (with some of their overblown and misleading claims). Since making a website accessible is a process that cannot be automated, the claims by many of these vendors are misleading.

• AccessWidget, AccessiWay (no date; accessed on 12.02.224).
  Claims made by AccessiWay: accessWidget improves the accessibility of your website with two components working simultaneously: Artificial Intelligence and the Accessibility Interface. accessWidget allows anyone with a website to make it accessible to people with disabilities. Our artificial intelligence software is responsible for resolving 70% of the technical requirements of the international guidelines. It makes the site usable by screen-readers and allows full keyboard navigation. In very small font size: The accessWidget software cannot guarantee full WCAG 2.1 compliance for every single element on your site as incompatibility with some elements is always possible. Please consult our consultants to ensure you achieve compliance after installing accessWidget.
• Monsido PageAssist | A Personalized Toolbar For User Experience, Monsido (no date; accessed on 31.01.2024).
  Claims on the webpage: PageAssist™ is a toolbar that you can add to your website to give visitors with disabilities control over the way they experience your site. The page does not claim that the tool makes your site fully compliant.
• FACIL’iti (France): FACIL’iti est une solution d’accessibilité numérique innovante qui adapte l’affichage d’un site Web en fonction des besoins de confort visuel, moteur, cognitif, et/ou temporaire de l’internaute.. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• accessiBe (Israel): The #1 Automated Web Accessibility Solution for ADA & WCAG Compliance; A single line of code for 24/7 automated compliance. (There is even a Wikipedia article about accessiBe.) (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• AudioEye (Tucson, Arizona, USA): #1 in Web Accessibility
  When it comes to understanding web accessibility compliance, AudioEye is here to help. AudioEye’s website accessibility software delivers superior accessibility and proven legal protection.
  Once our tool is installed, AudioEye will be able to detect and fix over 400 accessibility errors immediately. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Agastya by Oswald Labs (New Delhi, India): By adding just one line of JavaScript code, you can make your website accessible to a much wider audience. You can customize the widget, view usage analytics, install apps, and more. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• UserWay (Floor Wilmington, DE, USA): The World's Leading Automated Website Accessibility Solution for ADA & WCAG Compliance
  Requires only a single line of JavaScript. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
  UserWay's plugin will instantly strengthen any weak spots that might cause issues. We are proud to say that tens of millions of pages are more accessible today thanks to UserWay.
  One website that uses UserWay is Special Olympics, where the overlay tool opens when you press the keystroke combination Ctrl u (so you can't use that keyboard shortcut to view the page's source code). (Accessed on 20.06.2022.)
• EqualWeb (Kfar Yona, Israel): Make your website accessible in 1 easy step – insert one-line-of-code and we will do the rest! (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Max Access – AI-Powered Web Accessibility for WCAG and Section 508 Compliance (Eugene, Oregon, USA): INSTALL JUST 1 SINGLE LINE OF CODE
  Max Access instantly scans, analyzes, and updates your website. Then it re-scans for any site updates or new content every 24 hours! (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Howling Access AI (Tampa, Florida, USA): Fully Automated Web Accessibility Solution for ADA & WCAG Compliance
  Installing Howling Access AI is as simple as adding a single line of JavaScript code to your website. You can also add it through Google Tag Manager, or use one of our CMS extensions like WordPress, Joomla, BigCommerce, Drupal, etc. (Accessed on 12.05.2021. Notice the low contrast of the white text on the yellow background and the yellow text on the white backgroun.)
• Enable / EnableMyWebsite.com (Royersford, PA, USA?): AI-Powered Web Accessibility. Automatic. Simple. Affordable.
  Installing Enable Web Accessibility is extremely quick and simple. All you need to do is implement a single line of JavaScript code into your website. It's as simple as installing Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel! Additionally, you can even implement it using Google Tag Manager or our built-in CMS plugins!
  This is actually powered by AccessiBe; see Enable's Terms and Conditions. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Kiuloper (Canada): Installing AI solution is as simple as adding a single line of JavaScript code to your website. You can also add it through Google Tag Manager, or use one of our CMS extensions like WordPress, Joomla, BigCommerce, Drupal, etc. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Direction (McLean, Virginia, USA): The Website Accessibility Solution with Full ADA Compliance
  We add a single line of JavaScript code to the footer of your website. Don’t worry, we can also give you that code if you’d like to install it yourself. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Maverick Media (Easton, PA, USA): THE #1 FULLY AUTOMATED WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTION FOR ADA & WCAG COMPLIANCE
  We will create a single line of JavaScript code and install it on your website platform of choice. (This is an AccessiBe partner. Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• BeeSeen Solutions (New York, USA): Accelerate your business with BeeSeen Solutions website accessibility solutions without re-structuring your website’s existing code and secure a comprehensive legal and regulatory compliance framework covering ADA, Section 508, WCAG 2.1 AA, and much more.
  BeeSeen Solutions Accessibility Widget is compatible with all leading CMS platforms along with HTML/CSS/JS sites. This widget can easily spot any weak areas that might be causing issues, obstacles, or accessibility violations. (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Get ADA Accessibility (USA?): Get ADA Accessibility supports ALL cross-platform, using our cutting edge technology based on unique AI algorithms. We can help you make your website and all your digital content accessible without modifying your code.
  Just insert one-line-of-code and we will do the rest! (Accessed on 12.05.2021.)
• Purple Lens (Tel Aviv, Israel): described as follows in the FAQ: The accessibility tool Purple-Lens is a clever plugin which allows WordPress®️ pages to turn accessible using our assistive technologies. and its functioning is described as follows: The tool automates the visualization of the site in order to make it more enjoyable to people with disabilities. The tool automates the visualization of the site in order to make it usable for people with a range of disabilities: impaired vision, color blindness, epilepsy, motor difficulties and more. With regard to the level of compliance, the FAQ says: Using the tool and accomplishing every step from Purple Lab brings the site to meet W3C WIA WACG LEVEL AA requirements. (Accessed on 10.06.2021.)
• DIGIaccess (Bonn, Germany). Description on the product page: DIGIaccess ermöglicht es, Webseiten für jeden zugänglich zu machen. Der gesamte Prozess, inklusive der vollständigen Einhaltung der gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen, erfolgt zu 100 % automatisch und sofort, wobei KI-, Lern- und Bildverarbeitungstechnologien genutzt werden. (Accessed on 10.06.2021.)
• Adally (St. George, Utah, USA): Adally Free Accessibility Widget: this widget requires only one line of code to “install”. The company points out that it is not a full solution: Our proprietary widget will not make your website ADA compliant, no overlay solution will but it is a great first step and creates a better overall experience for website visitors with certain disabilities. (Accessed on 10.06.2021.)
• DearDoc: DearDoc Product and Feature Benefits mentions ADA compliance, saying, With the government cracking down on ADA-Compliance, it's not a question of if you will be sued but when you will be sued. (Accessed on 13.12.2023.) The page contains a button with an accessibility icon that opens an “Accessibility Assistant”. However, the page does not claim that the widget automatically solves all accessibility issues.
  The accessibility assistant can also be seen in action on the website Mind Body Spirit Wellness Center.
  For a discussion about DearDoc, see the GitHub issue Add DearDoc to list of overlay vendors (submitted on 13.12.2023).
• Deque Systems Releases Amaze 3.0 For General Availability, Deque Systems blog, 27.05.2014.
  See also Caitlin Cashin: Dylan Barrell Talks Amaze (21.02.2013). There has been no new information about Amaze since 2014.