WCAG in Plain English is a project by AAArdvark, created to make the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) easier to understand and apply. We believe accessibility should be approachable for everyone, not just experts, and we’re grateful to the community whose work helped shape this resource.
Adapted Content and Attributions
While all the article content in WCAG in Plain English is original and was written by our team to clearly explain each success criterion, we gratefully built on the ideas, summaries, and frameworks shared by others in the accessibility community. These contributions helped us organize the content, identify meaningful relationships, and improve the clarity and navigability of the site.
We’ve listed all sources of inspiration and adaptation below, with full attribution and links where available.
We are thankful for the creators who generously shared their work under open licenses, allowing us to build on their efforts.
Johannes Lehner – WCAG 2.2 Card Deck
Adapted from the WCAG 2.2 Card Deck, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
We used elements such as:
- Related success criteria
- Affected disabilities
- User and developer responsibilities
Our content remains under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license in accordance with the ShareAlike requirement.
Andrew Hick – WCAG Map and AAA Map
Inspired by the thematic structure and logic flow in:
Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. We adopted the themes as-is (including A–AA and AAA).
WAI – WCAG 2 Overview & Understanding WCAG 2.2
Based on official materials from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI):
Used under the W3C Document License. We paraphrased the success criteria, failures, and techniques for clarity, but the original documentation remains the authoritative source.
Martin Underhill – WCAG, but in language I can understand
We used Martin Underhill’s excellent WCAG in language I can understand blog series as a reference for the one-sentence summaries introducing each success criterion. These short explanations were clear, approachable, and aligned with our mission to make WCAG more accessible to everyone.
Martin’s original posts include:
While all article content in WCAG in Plain English was written by our team, we felt Martin’s work helped set the tone and direction for each success criterion and were used to provide quick at-a-glance summaries.
UK Government Digital Service – GOV.UK WCAG Primer
Adapted in part from the GOV.UK WCAG Primer, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
We referenced this material when developing clear, practical explanations for WCAG success criteria.
University of Melbourne – Accessibility Responsibilities by Project Role
Adapted from the Accessibility Responsibilities by Project Role, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU.
We used and built upon these role-based checklists to help define team responsibilities for accessibility.
Charlie Triplett – AtomicA11y
Influenced by AtomicA11y, which provides tools for accessibility acceptance criteria across platforms.
Appt Foundation – Accessibility Handbook
Adapted from the Appt Accessibility Handbook and guidelines, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
We used their disability mappings and practical guidance to inform our own explanations and user-centered breakdowns.
IBM – Accessibility Requirements
We consulted IBM’s Accessibility Requirements to inform our methodology for mapping WCAG criteria to disabilities.
While no license is specified, these public resources helped shape our internal thinking around inclusive design and remediation planning.
The AAArdvark Team
Authors
The WCAG in Plain English articles were collaboratively crafted by our dedicated team members:
- Natalie Garza – Lead Content Creator at AAArdvark, Natalie brings a passion for making complex accessibility concepts understandable. Her background in content creation and enthusiasm for web accessibility have been instrumental in developing clear and engaging articles for this project.
- Cynthia Hug – Serving in Support and Quality Assurance at AAArdvark, Cynthia’s meticulous attention to detail ensures the accuracy and reliability of our content.
Development
Hamze Ammar handled all development work for this project, including structuring the content and ensuring an accessible, usable, and clear digital experience.
Project Lead
Natalie MacLees conceived of and led the WCAG in Plain English project. She developed the idea, edited and reviewed all articles, and guided the team from start to finish. Her leadership, accessibility expertise, and attention to detail brought the project to life.
Feedback & Contributions
Have feedback or spot something we should improve? Get in touch with us! We’re always looking to refine and expand this resource. You’re also welcome to reuse or build upon this work, as long as you follow the terms of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
