Accessibility “overlays” are technologies that sit on top of websites and manipulate the front-end code in order to improve the sites’ accessibility. Common examples of overlays are AccessiBe and UserWay, but there are many others.
At best, these solutions offer a Band-aid, and are not a substitute for ensuring the website is accessible default. At worst, they do more harm than good by adding a layer that might interfere with users’ ability to interact with a site in the ways they expect.
Bottom line: Focus on ensuring your website is fully accessible. If you do so, there’s no need need to use an overlay to fix your website’s shortcomings.
See the following resources for additional information:
- Overlay Fact Sheet
- Legal Update: Accessibility Overlay Edition – from the Law Office of Lainey Feingold
- The Promise and Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Overlays for Blind and Low Vision Users – research paper by Makati, Tigwell, and Shinohara published in 2024
- Alumni Spotlight: Accessibility overlays can make websites less accessible – feature article from UW Create highlighting the above research paper
- Accessibility Capabilities: Post-Source Code and Content – a draft W3C Community Group Report that objectively evaluates the efficacy of overlays for remediating specific accessibility issues.