The history of WCAG is part of a wider story: beyond the United States, around a dozen countries have laws or policies that prevent unequal access to digital technology. Like the United States, they also form a part of a specific law or policy which is aimed at decreasing discernment against people with physical disabilities and not specific to only EIT. In some cases, the plans apply only to the government’s websites. It is rare for any country’s anti-discrimination legislation to particularly mention accessible EIT but instead mirror, in spirit, the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, or both.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The United Nations Convention has always been working on one of the critical aspects of human rights instruments – the rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with physical limitations and disabilities. Parties to the Convention are required to support, protect, promote and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and assure that they hold full equality under the law.
The Convention indicates that persons with disabilities should be able to live independently and involve fully in all aspects of life. To this end, States Parties are also required to take suitable measures to ensure that persons with limitations have access to transportation, physical environment, information and communications, and other amenities and services open or provided to the public.
The UN General Assembly approved the text on December 13, 2006, and was opened for signature on March 30, 2007. It came into force on May 3, 2008, following the ratification by the 20th party. As of December 13, 2009, it has 143 signatories and 76 parties, and The Committee controls the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today stands as a body of human rights experts which is tasked with controlling the implementation of the Convention. It will initially consist of 12 self-sufficient human rights experts, with half elected for a two-year term and half elected for four years.
Article 33 explains that States are expected to set up their independent monitoring mechanism – which will eventually take the form of an autonomous national human rights institution.
The United States signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at United Nations Headquarters on July 30, 2009 (It should be noted here that this has not been “ratified” by the US, as sanction must be advised and consented to by a two-thirds vote in the Senate.)
WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) form part of a series of web accessibility guidelines issued by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative, and the history of WCAG begins there. They consist of a set of instructions on making the content accessible. The first version of WCAG (Version 1.0) was published and became a W3C recommendation on May 5, 1999. Today, nearly all international policies and regulations refer to or incorporate WCAG, which is why the history of WCAG is also the history of accessibility law. The United States Section 508 web provisions (1194.22) harmonize with WCAG 1.0’s Priority 1 guidelines.
Fast Forward from 2008 to 2017: WCAG 2.1 and Silver
For a full decade after December 11, 2008, WCAG 2.0 remained the measuring stick for accessibility – the longest stretch in the history of WCAG without a new version. Digital and web technology have changed a lot in the last decade, and the history of WCAG reflects it. So, there was a need and expectation to create a dot release, WCAG 2.1, and later WCAG 2.2.
The WCAG 2.0 were so well-formatted and detailed in 2008 that it stood the test of time, given all the requirements are yet considered extremely valid. So, many experts are still hanging on to 2.0 and adding 2.1 to it will make it nothing but more elaborate. There’s a lateral effort to the WCAG 2.1 dot release. The 2.1 dot release will help to fill the known gaps. Also, there is another movement called Silver, which became the W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 draft – the next chapter in the history of WCAG.
Public sector website accessibility statements – what one needs to know
Accessibility laws are getting popular amongst not just government websites but also for the non-government public sector website and apps; it most definitely will need to meet specific accessibility standards.
The Public Sector Bodies (inclusive of the websites and mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018, to give its full title, became valid on 23 September. The primary purpose of Accessibility Regulations is to ensure if that public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all users, particularly those with disabilities.
All new public sector websites now are required to answer accessibility standards and publish an accessibility statement.
This will make evident the level of accessibility across the website or the app. Where there are barriers, the notification will apprise users of alternative routes to access. The announcement will also enable users to contact the website owner if they identify any otherwise issues.
Any websites published since September this year will need a statement by September 2019, and the other older websites have until 2020 to comply with these guidelines.
History of WCAG: the timeline
May 5, 1999: WCAG 1.0 was published, and the history of WCAG officially began. It included 14 guidelines, varying depending on the need to provide text equivalents to considering simplicity and clarity on the web. Each direction had between one and ten supporting checkpoints.
December 11, 2008: WCAG 2.0 broadens the scope and offers its four principles. The early 2000s were years of when there were too many changes in technology, so WCAG emerged to keep up with the challenges. WCAG 2.0 was a fantastic follow-up to its forerunner and was intended to be applied to nearly all things digital (including documents and apps). WCAG 2.0 also opened the four guiding principles of accessibility, declaring content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, backed by achievement standards for adhering to those principles. WCAG 2.0 dominated as the gold standard for a long time, and it is still the version most laws cite.
June 5, 2018: WCAG 2.1 establishes on but does not replace WCAG 2.0. The advanced version of WCAG is backwards-compatible with the earlier one, which means that if you comply with WCAG 2.1, you reflexively comply with WCAG 2.0. This became a piece of great news for website and app developers. In the history of WCAG, 2.1 was a well-coveted update after the decade-old WCAG 2.0 could no longer account entirely for advancements in technology and web use. The new WCAG 2.1 standards comprise of several success criteria for improving web accessibility on mobile devices, as well as for individuals with low vision and cognitive disabilities.
October 5, 2023: WCAG 2.2 added nine success criteria, most of them aimed at people with cognitive disabilities, low vision and motor impairments – focus appearance, dragging alternatives, larger target sizes, consistent help and accessible authentication among them. It also retired the old 4.1.1 Parsing criterion. In the history of WCAG, 2.2 is the version that most clearly reflects mobile use and cognitive accessibility.
Helping companies meet new regulations is just one part of the work of these guidelines, and only one thread in the history of WCAG. It aims to make sure there are no online or offline restrictions preventing otherwise-enabled people from accessing services they need to use.
Internationally, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is standard for using it as the basis for most Web Accessibility policies and regulations (for countries which have them). Many nations have since updated their laws to cite WCAG 2.1 or 2.2, and the history of WCAG will continue with version 3.0, which is still a working draft.
History of WCAG: frequently asked questions
When did the history of WCAG start?
On 5 May 1999, when the W3C published WCAG 1.0 with 14 guidelines and 65 checkpoints graded by priority. Work had begun in 1997 inside the newly formed Web Accessibility Initiative.
What are the main versions in the history of WCAG?
WCAG 1.0 (1999), WCAG 2.0 (December 2008), WCAG 2.1 (June 2018), WCAG 2.2 (October 2023), and WCAG 3.0, which is still a working draft with no publication date. Each 2.x version is backwards compatible with the previous one, so meeting 2.2 means you also meet 2.0 and 2.1.
Which WCAG version do laws refer to today?
Most laws and regulations now cite WCAG 2.1 Level AA: the U.S. Department of Justice rule for state and local governments (2024), the European EN 301 549 standard used by the European Accessibility Act, and the UK public sector regulations. WCAG 2.2 is being adopted gradually, and India’s GIGW 3.0 aligns with WCAG 2.1 as well. Anyone who follows the history of WCAG will notice that laws lag the standard by three to five years.
Why is WCAG 3.0 taking so long?
Because it changes the model, not just the checklist. WCAG 3.0 proposes outcome-based scoring with bronze, silver and gold levels instead of A, AA and AAA, and it aims to cover apps, authoring tools and content more evenly. Getting that right, and testable, is slow work. Until it is finished, WCAG 2.2 remains the standard to build to, and the history of WCAG will simply record 3.0 as its longest project.
How does the history of WCAG affect my website today?
Build to WCAG 2.2 AA now and you satisfy every law that cites 2.0 or 2.1, because the versions are backwards compatible. If your site was last audited against 2.0, a fresh audit will flag the newer criteria; you can see what that looks like in our web accessibility case study.
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