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.
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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.
Helperbird (opens in a new tab)
Reformats any page: dyslexia fonts, rulers, colour overlays, text-to-speech.
Microsoft Immersive Reader (opens in a new tab)
Strips a page to plain text with line focus, syllable splitting and read-aloud.
OpenDyslexic (opens in a new tab)
Free typeface with weighted bottoms to reduce letter flipping. A preference, not a cure.
BeeLine Reader (opens in a new tab)
Colour gradient that pulls the eye between lines — helps with ADHD line-skipping.
Read&Write (opens in a new tab)
Texthelp's literacy suite: read-aloud, prediction, dictionary, screen masking.
Speechify / Voice Dream Reader (opens in a new tab)
Turns documents and pages into audio, for minds that hold attention by listening.
ReCalibri (opens in a new tab)
Free extension swapping default fonts for Atkinson Hyperlegible, OpenDyslexic or Lexend.
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.
WAVE (opens in a new tab)
WebAIM's extension that draws errors, contrast failures and structure onto the page.
axe DevTools (opens in a new tab)
Deque's engine in your browser and CI — the de facto standard for automated rule checks.
Microsoft Accessibility Insights (opens in a new tab)
Free scanner for web and Windows with a guided manual assessment.
Google Lighthouse (opens in a new tab)
Built into Chrome. Shallow by design, but a baseline gate nobody has to install.
Pa11y (opens in a new tab)
Command line and CI testing — fail the build when someone ships an unlabeled input.
BrowserStack Accessibility Testing (opens in a new tab)
Scans across real browsers and devices at scale, with workflow tracking.
AccessibleWeb (opens in a new tab)
Free scanner plus a directory of accessibility consultants when you need a human.
Accessibility Checker — ADA & WCAG Scanner (opens in a new tab)
Free Chrome extension, one-click WCAG 2.2 scan that runs entirely in your browser.
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.
AccessMonitor (opens in a new tab)
Portugal's official government checker, scoring public sites against WCAG.
GOV.UK accessibility statement (opens in a new tab)
The UK government's own statement — the reference model for writing yours.
AMA Web (opens in a new tab)
Brazil's evaluator by Unifesp, IFRS and the Ministério dos Direitos Humanos.
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.
NVDA (opens in a new tab)
Free, open-source Windows screen reader — the one most testers start with.
JAWS (opens in a new tab)
Paid Windows screen reader, still the enterprise and government standard.
VoiceOver (opens in a new tab)
Built into macOS and iOS — nothing to install before you test.
TalkBack (opens in a new tab)
Android's free screen reader, part of the Android Accessibility Suite.
Narrator (opens in a new tab)
Shipped with Windows — the zero-setup way to hear your interface.
Orca (opens in a new tab)
Free screen reader for Linux desktops, maintained by the GNOME project.
Colour & contrast
Contrast is the failure automated scans report most, and the easiest to settle before a single line of code is written.
Colour Contrast Analyser (opens in a new tab)
The Paciello Group's free desktop app — eyedropper contrast checks anywhere.
WhoCanUse (opens in a new tab)
Shows how a colour pair reads across different vision and situational contexts.
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.
W3C WAI — Cognitive Accessibility (COGA) (opens in a new tab)
Reference guidance on memory, attention, language and executive function.
CAST — Universal Design for Learning (opens in a new tab)
Framework for multiple ways to engage, perceive and act — not bolted-on accommodations.
A note on overlay widgets
Why there are no overlay widgets on this list.
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.
Common questions
Selected picks informed by the community-maintained Awesome Accessibility list (opens in a new tab).
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.
Contribute
Know a tool we're missing?
Send it over. We review every suggestion by hand.