Web Accessibility Consultant: Role, Tools, and Best Practices
Updated on January 5, 2026
What a Web Accessibility Consultant Actually Does
Web accessibility is no longer just about meeting legal requirements. It's a core part of building inclusive, usable digital products that work for everyone.
As accessibility expectations increase, many teams assume they need a web accessibility consultant to move forward. In reality, the role is often misunderstood, and many organizations struggle to know when expert help is required and when the right tools are enough.
Understanding what a web accessibility consultant does helps teams make better decisions. It clarifies how audits, remediation guidance, testing, and ongoing monitoring fit together, and how accessibility can be managed strategically rather than reactively.
This section breaks down the role of a web accessibility consultant, the services they provide, and how modern platforms and automation can support or even replace parts of the consulting process over time.
What Is a Web Accessibility Consultant?
A web accessibility consultant is an expert. They make sure your website, mobile app, PDFs, and digital content follow accessibility standards. These standards include WCAG, ADA, EAA, and other international laws. These consultants help businesses identify and fix barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully using digital services.
A digital accessibility consultant knows a lot about compliance rules and user needs. This is especially true for assistive technologies like screen readers, keyboard navigation, and alternative input devices.
What Do Accessibility Consulting Services Include?
A reliable accessibility consultant offers a broad set of services:
- Accessibility audits: Identifying WCAG violations across your website or app.
- Remediation guidance: Advising your team on fixing issues effectively.
- Manual and automated testing: Uncovering issues missed by scanners.
- Accessibility statements: Writing or reviewing legal documentation.
- Ongoing compliance support: Ensuring your site stays compliant over time.
- Accessibility training: Teaching your team how to build and maintain accessible experiences.
Working with an accessibility consultant helps your business do more than just check boxes. It builds a strong foundation for digital inclusion.
Their services help you meet legal requirements and improve user experience. This also protects your brand's reputation.
A digital accessibility consultant offers special knowledge about WCAG and usability practices. These are often missed by general teams.
Free Web Accessibility Checker
Enter your website URL to get a free, instant accessibility scan with tabnav's checker.
Why Tabnav Monitor Is a Game-Changer
Tabnav Monitor acts like a built-in accessibility consultant. It tests how real users interact with your site-clicking, tabbing, and filling out forms-while scanning your pages against all WCAG guidelines, and provides you with a full guidelines list of passed and failed success criteria.
The result is a clear, visual report. It shows which guidelines your page meets or does not meet. This makes it easy to understand your compliance status and take action.
This approach closes the gap between automated scanning and expert testing. It helps detect: Keyboard traps, Broken tab order, Focus issues in modals or popups, Form accessibility failures.
The Importance of Ongoing Accessibility Checks
Accessibility is never a one-time task. Hiring a web accessibility consultant for a manual audit is helpful. However, it can be expensive and only shows your site's status at one moment.
Websites constantly change. Whether you're publishing new content, tweaking the design, or pushing development updates, small changes can introduce accessibility issues. These issues often go unnoticed-until they frustrate users or lead to legal complaints.
This is why many disability access consultants and digital accessibility consultants recommend proactive, ongoing monitoring. It helps catch problems early and ensures consistent compliance.
Tabnav Monitor makes ongoing monitoring easy. It simulates real user interactions and scans your website against all WCAG guidelines. You can run scans on a schedule that fits your team-weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or after any major update-and receive accessibility reports directly to your inbox.
These automated insights are especially helpful when multiple people-designers, developers, marketers-are involved. Even the smallest change can affect accessibility. Tabnav Monitor acts as a safety net for your accessibility consulting services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a web accessibility consultant do?
They identify accessibility issues, guide remediation, train teams, and help meet legal standards like WCAG and ADA.
How do I choose a good consultant?
Look for IAAP-certified professionals with proven results, hybrid testing capabilities, and access to comprehensive accessibility consulting services that go beyond simple audits.
Do I need a consultant if I use automated tools?
Yes. Automated tools miss critical real-world issues. Tabnav Monitor bridges that gap by simulating user interaction.
How much does a web accessibility consultant cost?
Costs vary. One-time audits by digital accessibility consultants range from $2,500 to $15,000. Hourly rates for accessibility consulting services often start at $150/hour. Tabnav Monitor offers a more scalable option with WCAG-aligned reporting and flexible scanning schedules.
7 Free Tools for Web Accessibility Consultants
If you're starting out as a digital accessibility consultant or want to expand your accessibility consulting services, tabnav offers a set of free tools to support your work. These resources are built to help you take action today-whether you're advising clients, auditing sites, or enhancing accessibility internally.
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Run a free accessibility scan to check your site for WCAG violations. Ideal for quick audits or sharing results with clients.
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Simulates real user interaction and scans one page monthly. Generates a detailed WCAG report that shows which guidelines pass or fail-along with code-level issue reporting-perfect for entry-level accessibility consulting services.
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Evaluate color contrast between background and text. A must-have tool when reviewing UI accessibility.
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Assess link color contrast separately from regular text. Links are trickier due to hover/focus styles-this tool helps ensure they meet WCAG standards clearly.
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Evaluate text over background images, commonly found in hero banners. Helps prevent critical design-based accessibility failures.
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A free, expert-led training library organized by WCAG principles and success criteria. Designed to help accessibility consultants and teams learn and implement best practices.
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Add a free accessibility widget to any website in seconds. It includes essential visual and content-adjustment tools like contrast modes, saturation control, text resizing, readable fonts, highlight links and titles, big cursor, reading aid, image hider, page structure viewer, and more. Perfect for consultants who want to demonstrate basic accessibility features to clients-no coding required.
These tools are used by freelancers, agencies, and in-house digital accessibility consultants to streamline audits, support remediation, and simplify ongoing accessibility efforts. to support your work. While these tools are limited in scope, they're powerful enough to help you take action today and start identifying key WCAG issues.
Final Thoughts
Hiring a web accessibility consultant is a smart move-but partnering with a platform like tabnav gives you expert help, powerful tools, and long-term protection. Whether you're just starting or trying to stay ahead of legal requirements, our platform combines accessibility consulting services with advanced monitoring technology to help you stay fully compliant and user-friendly.
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