The Brutal Truth About VPATs: What Business Leaders Really Need to Know

It’s time someone has an honest conversation about VPATs. 

If you’re a business leader who’s been told you need a VPAT, been asked to provide one, or worse—lost business because you didn’t have one—this article is going to give you the straight talk that nobody else seems willing to share.

After years of reviewing hundreds of VPATs and helping companies navigate the accessibility landscape, I’m going to tell you what other consultants won’t: Most of what you think you know about VPATs is probably wrong. And that misunderstanding is costing businesses time, money, and credibility.

The Perfect VPAT Myth: Why Your “Clean” Report Might Be Your Biggest Red Flag

Here’s the first brutal truth: There is no such thing as a “perfect” VPAT.

I know, I know. Your competitor just showed you their VPAT that says they “fully support” every single WCAG criterion. Your procurement team is demanding a “clean” VPAT. Your developers are promising they can deliver one.

They’re all wrong.

In my career reviewing VPATs, every single one that claimed full support for all WCAG criteria has been, to put it bluntly, B.S. While it’s not technically impossible to achieve perfect accessibility across every criterion, it’s about as realistic as claiming your website works flawlessly on every device, browser, and operating system combination that exists.

If someone hands you a VPAT claiming perfection, you should be asking hard questions about their testing methodology—or their honesty.

Think about it this way: Even the most accessible platforms in the world—the ones built from the ground up with accessibility in mind—acknowledge areas where they partially support certain criteria. Why? Because they’re being honest about the complexity of digital accessibility.

What VPATs Actually Are (Hint: Not What You Think)

Let’s break down what the acronym actually means. The “V” in VPAT stands for Voluntary. Not “Verified.” Not “Validated.” Voluntary.

That word choice isn’t accidental. It implies honesty, transparency, and good faith effort. A VPAT is essentially your organization’s self-disclosure about how your digital products align with accessibility standards. It’s meant to be a truthful assessment, not a marketing document or a certification to achieve.

(VPAT: V=Voluntary, P=Product, A=Accessibility, T=Template)

VPATs don’t have scores. There’s no grading system!!

You don’t get an A for having more “Supports” than “Partially Supports.” The purpose isn’t to win; it’s to inform.

The real purpose of a VPAT is straightforward: to show how each WCAG, Section 508, or EN 301 549 criterion is supported by your product. Notice I said “how,” not “that.” There’s no requirement that every criterion be fully met. The requirement is that you honestly document the current state of your accessibility.

This means that VPATs are meant to show how users with different disabilities might be affected when using an app, website, or device, and that not all criteria are connected or required to be supported.

The Legal Landmine You’re Creating with a Dishonest VPAT

Here’s where things get serious, and where I need to be brutally honest with business leaders: A dishonest VPAT is worse than no VPAT at all.

Consider this scenario: You claim full support for keyboard navigation (WCAG 2.1.1) in your VPAT. A user with mobility impairments purchases your product based on this claim, only to discover that your main navigation menu can’t be accessed without a mouse. They file a complaint or, worse, a lawsuit.

Now you’re not just dealing with an accessibility issue—you’re dealing with misrepresentation. If you weren’t honest about that one criterion, what else in your VPAT is false? Your credibility is shot, and your legal exposure just multiplied.

On the flip side, imagine you honestly reported that keyboard navigation was “Partially Supports” with a note explaining which elements weren’t fully accessible and your roadmap for addressing them. Are they going to sue you for having an accessibility audit and being honest about your limitations? The legal risk of transparency is far lower than the risk of deception.

The Procurement Problem Nobody Talks About

Here’s one of the most frustrating realities of the “VPAT system”: Many procurement professionals are simply told to ask for a VPAT without being trained on how to read or interpret one. It’s like asking someone to request a financial audit without understanding the numbers.

I’ve seen companies lose business for not having a VPAT—any VPAT. But in my entire career, I’ve never heard of a company losing business because some WCAG criterion was marked as “Partially Supports” instead of “Supports.”

This creates a perverse incentive where companies feel pressured to produce “clean” or “perfect” VPATs rather than honest ones. The procurement teams check their box, the vendors provide their fiction, and the actual users who need accessibility features? They’re the ones who suffer.

Just in case you were wondering, Microsoft, IBM, and Google all have publicly available VPATs that indicate the criterion is “partially supported” or “not supported.” Why? Because they are honest about what their applications and platforms can and can’t do.

Why Your “Finished” VPAT Is Already Outdated

Business leaders also need to understand this fundamental truth: Accessibility is a process, not a destination. It’s never finished and should never be treated as a one-and-done goal.

Think about the technical reality of modern digital products:

• Assistive technology interacts with the browser DOM, which is controlled by web browsers that update constantly
• Your website or app is constantly being updated with new features and content
• Assistive technology itself is regularly updated
• Third-party integrations can change without notice

Something can be fully accessible on Monday and broken by Wednesday. That’s not a failure of your accessibility program or bad development. That’s the nature of digital products.

This is why we recommend updating VPATs at least annually or with every major revision or update. A VPAT is a snapshot in time, not a permanent certification. Treating it as the latter is both unrealistic and potentially misleading.

The Backwards Approach That’s Costing You Money

Here’s a costly mistake I see all the time: Companies get a VPAT, see criteria marked as “Partially Supports” or “Does Not Support,” and immediately launch a massive redesign project to achieve full support across every criterion.

Stop. Just stop.

This backwards approach will drain your budget and might not even serve your actual users. Not every WCAG criterion is equally relevant to every product. A data visualization platform has different accessibility priorities than a social media app, which has different needs than an e-commerce site.

Instead of redesigning to meet every criterion, focus on:

1. Understanding which accessibility features are most critical for your actual users
2. Addressing the barriers that have the highest impact
3. Being transparent about limitations that can’t be reasonably addressed
4. Providing alternative methods for users to accomplish tasks when full accessibility isn’t feasible

It’s also unrealistic to expect your app or website to be fully accessible and usable for everyone with any disability if you didn’t design it to be. I mean, let’s be honest, if you’re concerned about your accessibility and usability now, that’s a planning and development failure. Not a VPAT failure.

The Honesty Advantage: Why Truth Beats Perfection

Some apps, platforms, or websites have functions, features, elements, or widgets that can’t be made fully accessible. Maybe it’s a complex data visualization that loses meaning when converted to text. Maybe it’s a real-time collaboration feature that relies on visual positioning. Maybe it’s a third-party integration you can’t control.

That’s okay—if you’re honest about it.

VPATs have a “Remarks and Explanations” column for exactly this reason. Use it. A good accessibility partner will help you:

1. Explain what doesn’t work and who it affects
2. Indicate if you’re addressing the issue
3. Note if the issue prevents users from accomplishing key tasks

This honesty serves multiple purposes:

• It helps procurement teams make informed decisions
• It sets appropriate expectations for users
• It demonstrates your organization understands accessibility
• It provides legal protection through transparency
• It builds trust with the accessibility community

What Business Leaders Should Actually Do About VPATs

So what’s the path forward? Here’s your action plan:

1. Treat VPATs as Documentation, Not Certification. Stop thinking about VPATs as something to “pass” or “achieve.” They’re documentation of your current accessibility state, nothing more, nothing less.

2. Invest in Accurate Assessment. Work with accessibility experts who understand that the goal is accuracy, not perfection. If a consultant promises you a “clean” VPAT, find a different consultant. They are going to cost you more money in the long run.

3. Update Regularly. Build VPAT updates into your development cycle. Annual updates at a minimum, with revisions after major releases.

4. Train Your Procurement Team. If your organization requests VPATs from vendors, make sure your procurement team understands how to read them. A VPAT with honest “Partially Supports” notations from a vendor committed to accessibility is far more valuable than a fictitious “full support” document.

5. Focus on Continuous Improvement. Instead of aiming for perfect VPAT “scores,” focus on continuous accessibility improvement. This aligns with how modern software development actually works and provides better outcomes for users.

6. Be Transparent. When someone asks about your accessibility, be honest. Share your VPAT, explain your approach, and discuss your roadmap. Transparency builds trust and reduces legal risk.

The Bottom Line for Business Leaders

VPATs are supposed to help people make more informed choices about the products they procure and use. They’re not certifications, they’re not report cards, and they’re definitely not marketing materials.

The best VPAT is one that accurately represents what your website, app, or platform does and doesn’t do from an accessibility perspective. It should be honest about limitations, clear about workarounds, and transparent about your ongoing efforts.

Remember: The “V” stands for Voluntary. That implies good faith, honesty, and transparency. Treat it that way, and VPATs become a useful tool for improving accessibility and serving all your users. Treat it as a box-checking exercise or a marketing opportunity, and you’re setting yourself up for problems.

At Accessiblü, we’ve built our entire approach around this reality. We don’t promise perfect VPATs or overnight accessibility transformations. What we do is use those comment boxes and explanation fields the way they were meant to be used—to actually communicate useful information.

Here’s the key: We write VPATs for the non-experts who have to read them. When we mark something as “Partially Supports,” we explicitly explain whether key functions can still be completed. For instance, a form might have color contrast issues on error messages (partial support for 1.4.3), but we’ll note that users can still successfully complete and submit the form. Conversely, if a critical feature genuinely can’t be accessed, we make that crystal clear.

Our goal is to help procurement teams and decision-makers understand not just where your product falls short of perfect WCAG compliance, but more importantly, what your website, app, or platform CAN do. Because here’s the thing—a product with several “Partially Supports” ratings that clearly explains how users can still accomplish their goals is often more accessible in practice than one claiming full support everywhere without any context.

The brutal truth about VPATs? They’re only as valuable as they are honest and informative. And in the world of digital accessibility, clear communication about both capabilities and limitations isn’t just the best policy—it’s the only sustainable one.

Ready to get an honest, informative VPAT that actually helps people understand your product’s accessibility? Contact Accessiblü to learn how our Managed Accessibility Ops approach creates VPATs that serve their true purpose—helping everyone make informed decisions about digital accessibility.