✦ Task type · Website testing
Accessibility spot checks, and what they are not
An automated scan finds about a third of the problems. A conformance audit finds the rest on paper. Neither tells you that the flow is technically passing and still unusable, which is what this buys.
Automated tooling catches contrast, missing labels and structural errors. A conformance audit catches what the standard covers. Between them sits the category neither reaches: interfaces that satisfy every requirement and still defeat the person using them.
That gap is only visible to someone who uses assistive technology as their ordinary way of working, at their ordinary speed.
What to put in the public brief
- The specific assistive technology and platform
- That it is a real-usage check, not a conformance audit
- The journey they will attempt, described as an outcome
- Roughly how long it should take
- That findings of "this technically works but is horrible" are exactly what you want
Keep the URL and any test credentials private.
What to put in the private instructions
Give a goal, never a route
"Buy the cheapest item in the sale and get to the confirmation." A route removes the navigation problem, which is usually the finding.
Ask for the point of highest friction, not a list
One place they nearly gave up is more actionable than twelve minor annoyances, and it is the one that costs you customers.
Ask them to work at normal speed
Not carefully. Careful use hides the problems, because careful use is not how anyone uses anything.
Ask what they would have done outside a paid task
The honest answer is often "left". Knowing where is the deliverable.
Proof worth requiring
Ask for
A screen recording with the assistive technology audio where the platform allows it, the exact software and version, and the friction point in their own words.
Do not ask for
WCAG success criterion references. That is audit vocabulary, you are not buying an audit, and requiring it filters your pool down to consultants rather than users.
When this task type is the wrong tool
If you need a conformance statement for procurement or to meet a regulatory obligation, commission a proper audit. This does not substitute and should not be represented as one.
If nothing has been fixed since the last automated scan, run the scan first. Paying an expert to find missing alt text is spending specialist attention on something a free tool reports in seconds.
Common questions
Does this replace a WCAG audit?
No, and treating it as one would be a mistake with legal consequences. A conformance audit is a specialist assessment against a standard, and it is what regulators, procurement and the European Accessibility Act ask for. This finds a different class of problem: the journey that passes every checkpoint and still cannot be completed by someone using a screen reader in a hurry.
What reward is fair?
Twenty to forty dollars, and this is the task type where underpaying is least defensible. You are buying expertise built through daily use of technology most of your team has never opened, and the pool of people who can do it is small.
Which assistive technology should I ask for?
Name one per campaign. A screen reader user on iOS, a screen reader user on Windows, someone using keyboard only, someone using magnification at 300 per cent. Mixing them into one brief gets you an average of four different experiences, which is nobody's experience.
Is it acceptable to pay disabled people to test?
Paying properly is the point. What is not acceptable is asking for this work unpaid, or as a favour, or framing it as an opportunity to help. It is expert labour and it should be priced like the specialist work it is.
Thinking of taking this task?
The same job, from the other side. Rewards are set by the poster, so treat these as the range this task type usually sits in rather than a promise.
- Usually pays
- $20 to $40
- You need
- Daily use of assistive technology as your ordinary way of working
- Proof expected
- A recording where the platform allows it, plus the friction point in your words
This is expert work and priced as such. Work at your normal speed rather than carefully, because careful use hides the problems you are being paid to find.
Create a worker accountCommission a spot check
Set the reward and the assistive technology you need represented. Workers reserve a spot; the URL and any test account stay private until they do.
Post this task