Preserve is a producer and seller of consumer products that are better for people and the planet. They are also fellow members of the B Corp community. The company hired Mightybytes to assess and remediate accessibility issues on their Shopify website after receiving litigation threats.

Due to pending legislation, the project included very clear parameters.

• Project goal: Find and fix as many critical accessibility issues as possible. 
• Desired outcome: Push the website as close to W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2, level AA as possible using automated tools (manual accessibility testing to come as resources allow).
• Project timeline: Execute the project as quickly as possible to address two pending accessibility lawsuits. Start to finish, it took seven weeks.

To reach project goals and multi-stakeholder consensus under a tight timeline, we followed the methodology below.

We also prioritized issues in each category by violation severity, assigning ownership between teams. An open project task board and weekly check-ins kept the process transparent and organized.

Throughout the process, good collaboration helped everyone ensure that issues were addressed and the website could be maintained to prevent regression long after our engagement was over.

• Identify fixes: Our team identified solutions based on challenges discovered, then implemented fixes. 
• Prioritize deliverables: In addition to those mentioned above, other violations required updating outdated and unsupported add-ons. 
• Shared workload: Content-specific issues were assigned to Preserve’s team to fix directly within their content management system.
• Continuous improvement: We also provided resources and tutorials to help Preserve’s team continue to prioritize accessibility into the future.

Through strategic use of multiple accessibility testing platforms, we eliminated over ten thousand flagged issues in a short period of time. 

To wrap up the project, Mightybytes created a detailed accessibility report that provided clear before and after status on all issues we addressed. 

This report was shared with legal counsel to illustrate remediation efforts Preserve took in the face of potential litigation. The report also prioritized steps that Preserve can take moving forward to reduce risk and maintain a more accessible website over time.

This project was a reminder for everyone that the global web accessibility landscape is shifting. Organizations must remain vigilant if they hope to meet the disability community’s needs while also reducing risk for their own organizations. 

To help others, Mightybytes and Preserve commit to the following next steps.

1. Create articles and case studies (like this one!) that other orgs can use to assess and reduce accessibility risk.
2. Work with B Lab to create B Corp-specific content that will help other Certified B Corps better understand changing risks and accessibility requirements in new V2 certification standards.
3. Commit to manual accessibility testing as time and resources allow.

We’re also helping Preserve review additional potential website risks, including data privacy, security, and others. 

We appreciate and support Preserve’s willingness to share this story and to move forward with transparency and accountability. By publishing this case study and other resources during Disability Pride Month, we hope to inspire others to take accessibility action on their own digital properties.