Resources
Accessibility tools
The tools we actually use, what each one is for, and where the industry is selling you something that doesn't work. No affiliate links, no tiers, no gatekeeping.
01 — Tools for neurodivergent minds
These tools change how text is delivered — font, spacing, colour, pacing, audio — so that reading stops fighting the reader. They exist because default layouts assume one kind of attention.
Treat them as preferences, not remedies. The design lesson is simpler than the product list: let people resize, recolour, reflow and listen to your content without breaking it.
Reformats any page: dyslexia fonts, rulers, colour overlays, text-to-speech.
Strips a page to plain text with line focus, syllable splitting and read-aloud.
Free typeface with weighted bottoms to reduce letter flipping. A preference, not a cure.
Colour gradient that pulls the eye between lines — helps with ADHD line-skipping.
Texthelp's literacy suite: read-aloud, prediction, dictionary, screen masking.
Turns documents and pages into audio, for minds that hold attention by listening.
Free extension swapping default fonts for Atkinson Hyperlegible, OpenDyslexic or Lexend.
02 — General checkers
Automated checkers find the mechanical failures fast: contrast, missing labels, broken structure. Run one on every page you ship — they catch about a third of the issues, which is a third you no longer have to argue about.
WebAIM's extension that draws errors, contrast failures and structure onto the page.
Deque's engine in your browser and CI — the de facto standard for automated rule checks.
Free scanner for web and Windows with a guided manual assessment.
Built into Chrome. Shallow by design, but a baseline gate nobody has to install.
Command line and CI testing — fail the build when someone ships an unlabeled input.
Scans across real browsers and devices at scale, with workflow tracking.
Free scanner plus a directory of accessibility consultants when you need a human.
Free Chrome extension, one-click WCAG 2.2 scan that runs entirely in your browser.
02b — Government monitors
Some governments publish their own accessibility checkers and reference statements. Use them when you're delivering public sector work — they're the yardstick you'll be measured against.
Many other governments run equivalent tools — know one we're missing? Suggest it below.
Portugal's official government checker, scoring public sites against WCAG.
The UK government's own statement — the reference model for writing yours.
Brazil's evaluator by Unifesp, IFRS and the Ministério dos Direitos Humanos.
02c — Screen readers
You cannot judge a page you have never heard. Install one, turn off the monitor, and try to complete your own flow — it is the fastest accessibility lesson available for free.
Free, open-source Windows screen reader — the one most testers start with.
Paid Windows screen reader, still the enterprise and government standard.
Built into macOS and iOS — nothing to install before you test.
Android's free screen reader, part of the Android Accessibility Suite.
Shipped with Windows — the zero-setup way to hear your interface.
Free screen reader for Linux desktops, maintained by the GNOME project.
02d — Colour & contrast
Contrast is the failure automated scans report most, and the easiest to settle before a single line of code is written.
The Paciello Group's free desktop app — eyedropper contrast checks anywhere.
Shows how a colour pair reads across different vision and situational contexts.
03 — A note on overlay widgets
Accessibility overlays — AccessiBe, UserWay, EqualWeb, AudioEye — are a single script that promises compliance without changing your code. They are contested across the accessibility community, and they do not replace real testing with real users.
Screen reader users and accessibility practitioners have documented overlays interfering with the assistive technology people already rely on. Thousands of ADA lawsuits have been filed against sites running an overlay, and in 2026 the US Federal Trade Commission fined AccessiBe over deceptive claims about automated compliance.
We're not telling you what to buy. We're telling you what a widget can't do: it can't fix semantics, it can't fix reading level, it can't fix a flow that overloads working memory, and it can't consent on behalf of the people it says it serves. Budget for auditing and for paying disabled testers instead.
04 — Frameworks
Two bodies of work carry the cognitive side of accessibility: W3C WAI's COGA guidance and CAST's Universal Design for Learning. Read them before you invent your own principles.
Reference guidance on memory, attention, language and executive function.
Framework for multiple ways to engage, perceive and act — not bolted-on accommodations.
FAQ
Common questions
- Which checker should I start with?
- WAVE or axe DevTools. Both run in the browser, both point at a specific element, and both teach you the vocabulary while you fix things. Add Pa11y once you want failures caught in CI rather than in review.
- Do automated tools catch everything?
- No — around a third of WCAG issues at best. Cognitive load, unclear language, confusing flows, focus order and error recovery all need a person. Preferably a disabled or neurodivergent person, paid for their time.
- Are overlay widgets a shortcut?
- No. They sit on top of broken code, they conflict with the assistive tech people already use, and they have generated litigation rather than prevented it. Fix the page.
- What if I only have an hour?
- Run one automated scan, then tab through the page with your keyboard and read the copy out loud. Those three moves surface more real problems than any purchase.
Selected picks informed by the community-maintained Awesome Accessibility list.
Contribute
Know a tool we're missing?
Using something that should be here? Send it over. We review every suggestion by hand.