ResourcesTesting and fixing
Do accessibility overlays fix a website?
Quick answer
Not on its own. An overlay is a third-party script that changes what a visitor's browser shows, while your site's code stays the same. The Overlay Fact Sheet, an open statement signed by accessibility practitioners, says script repair of image descriptions, form errors and keyboard access is not reliable. Those get fixed in the code.
This page describes what the rules and public sources say, as we read them on the date shown. It is not a full list, and rules change. We are not a law firm, and this isn't legal advice. Your attorney decides which rules apply to you.
Facts last checked
How an overlay works
An overlay, often sold as a widget, is a script from another company that you add to your site.
Your page loads
The browser gets your site's code as it was built, barriers included.
A script runs
A third-party script loads in the visitor's browser.
It changes the view
The script adjusts what that browser shows, like contrast or text size, or tries to repair the code.
Your code stays the same
Nothing changes on your site. The next visitor starts from the same page.
- What the visitor's browser shows: changed by the script, on each visit
- The overlay script: from another company, runs in the browser
- Your site's code: unchanged
A script layer
- Changes what one visitor's browser shows, on each visit
- Supplied by another company
- Stops if the script doesn't load, or when you cancel
- The changes aren't in your code, so your developer can't review them there
A fix in your code
- Changes the page every visitor gets
- Lives in your own templates and content
- Stays when a contract ends
- Your developer can see each change, and a person can retest it
What a script can't know
A script only sees code. These are limits named by the Overlay Fact Sheet, an open statement signed by accessibility practitioners, and by the National Federation of the Blind.
NFB, 2021
Who is in a photo
A script can describe "two people standing in front of a building". It can't know who they are or where they are.
Overlay Fact Sheet
What a form field is for
Repairing field labels, error messages and focus on forms with a script is not reliable.
Overlay Fact Sheet
How a control works with a keyboard
Repairing keyboard access with a script is not reliable.
Overlay Fact Sheet
What's inside a PDF or a video
Overlays don't repair content in PDFs, media files, SVG or HTML canvas.
Overlay Fact Sheet
A page that changes after it loads
Sites built with JavaScript frameworks can update the page on their own, and the overlay may not be able to fix those changes.
NFB, 2021
What is a heading or a table
A script can mark text as a heading when it isn't one, or misread a table's row and column headings.
What a script can doThe Overlay Fact Sheet says "some automated repair is possible", and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) says overlays "may help to make certain parts of a website nonvisually accessible". Both say that isn't enough on its own.
The record
What advocates, practitioners and regulators have said, in order of the date on each source.
January 2021Survey
WebAIM asks practitioners to rate overlays
Most respondents rated them not very or not at all effective, as the chart below shows.
July 2021Statement
National Federation of the Blind adopts a resolution
Resolution 2021-04 says "complete and long-lasting accessibility requires more than a one-time installation of code".
March 2022Regulator
Department of Justice web guidance mentions overlays
It says: "Automated accessibility checkers and overlays that identify or fix problems with your website can be helpful tools, but like other automated tools such as spelling or grammar checkers, they need to be used carefully."
January 2025Regulator
FTC announces a proposed order against accessiBe
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that the company's claims that its tool could make any website meet WCAG were false, misleading or unsubstantiated.
April 2025Regulator
FTC approves the final order
The order is a settlement. It records that accessiBe neither admitted nor denied the FTC's allegations. It requires a $1 million payment to the FTC, which may be used for refunds, and bars that company, and no other, from saying its automated products can make any website meet WCAG unless it has evidence.
Updated June 2026Regulator
European Commission web accessibility page
Its page, last updated June 23, 2026, says: "Overlays, or any other tools which do not ensure the website itself meets the detailed criteria of the standard, are not an appropriate solution."
October 2026Statement
Overlay Fact Sheet signatures
As of October 3, 2026, 1,048 signers had pledged to "always advocate for the remediation of accessibility issues at the source of the original error".
- Very effective: 3.3%
- Somewhat effective: 27.8%
- Not very effective: 32.0%
- Not at all effective: 37.0%
Source: WebAIM Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners #3, January 2021. 676 answers to this question.
Lawsuits name sites with widgets too
The count shows that sites with a widget are sued too, not that a widget raises or lowers the chance.
About 1 in 4 ADA website accessibility lawsuits that EcomBack counted in federal and state courts in 2025 were against sites using an accessibility widget (983 of 3,948, or 24.9%).
Source: EcomBack (an accessibility vendor), 2025 annual report. Rounded to whole squares.
If you have one installed
Start with the site itself
Keeping or removing the widget doesn't change your code. Find out what the site itself needs first.
Test with it off
Have a person go through your key journeys, like booking or checkout, with a keyboard and a screen reader, with the widget turned off.
Fix the code
Fix the barriers in your templates and content, then retest.
Then decide
With the barriers fixed at the source, decide with your team and your attorney whether to keep the widget.
Sources
- Overlay Fact Sheet (signatures counted October 3, 2026) (2026)
- National Federation of the Blind, Resolution 2021-04: Regarding the Use of Overlays to Make Websites Accessible to the Blind (2021)
- WebAIM, Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners #3 (2021)
- US Department of Justice, Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA (2022)
- Federal Trade Commission, complaint in the matter of accessiBe Inc. and accessiBe Ltd. (2025)
- Federal Trade Commission, press release announcing the order against accessiBe (January 3, 2025) (2025)
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC Approves Final Order Requiring accessiBe to pay $1 Million (April 22, 2025) (2025)
- European Commission, Web accessibility policy page (last update June 23, 2026) (2026)
- EcomBack, 2025 annual ADA website accessibility lawsuit report (2025 data)
We provide technical accessibility services, not legal advice.
More guides
The most common accessibility barriers
The six errors WebAIM's yearly scan detects most often on home pages, what each fix looks like in the code, and the barriers a scan misses.
Automated scans vs. testing by people
What an automated accessibility scan can find, what it misses, and why testing by people has to go with it.
WCAG explained: principles, levels and versions
What WCAG is, what Levels A, AA and AAA mean, and which version the rules name, shown in charts and tables.
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