WCAG 2.2 Accessibility Audit: KShep Creative Website

Client: Self-initiated (KShep Creative, as my own client)

My role: Accessibility auditor and report author (CPACC)

Scope of contribution: I built the audit template and conducted the full audit. Completed as my portfolio project for the L'Etoile Education cohort "Making Online Content Accessible for All," which provided guidelines and examples. The program instructor reviewed the finished report.

Timeline: August 2025 (point-in-time snapshot of the version 1 site)

Public artifacts: Full audit report (PDF), Accessibility Audits page

Project context

Before rebuilding the KShep Creative website on a new platform, I audited the existing site against WCAG 2.2 to decide what to fix and in what order. The report is a point-in-time snapshot of that earlier WordPress site, and the current site reflects what the audit taught me. I hold my own work to the same standard I hold client work to, so auditing myself first was the honest place to start.

What I contributed

I designed and built three teacher-facing resources:

A curriculum map that shows how each unit aligns to standards across content areas. The map currently covers 12 units, with each unit containing 5 to 8 lessons.
A key vocabulary repository that shows when terms are introduced and revisited across the curriculum, helping educators decide when to teach a term explicitly and when a quick reminder is enough.
Four getting-started tutorials for educators new to the curriculum. These went through multiple rounds of iteration, including review by the Foundation's copy team, and were later translated into additional languages.

I also developed and organized a professional development library for the Foundation's PD partners, using content provided by the Foundation. My role was to structure the library so PD partners could find and use what they needed efficiently. The content itself was developed by the Foundation.

This work sat inside a broader implementation system that the Foundation operates. The Foundation's PD partners handle direct implementation support with schools. The Foundation's customer success staff handle ongoing district relationships. My role was to design the digital complement to that human-delivered infrastructure, not to replace it.

Design decisions and approach

Severity and priority, not just a list of failures

A list of problems does not tell a client what to do on Monday. I rated each barrier on a four-point scale and mapped it to a priority, from fix immediately through optional, so the report works as a remediation plan. The summary opens with the count at each level: zero critical, one severe, nine moderate, and two best-practice items.

Manual testing alongside automated tools

Automated scanners miss anything that depends on context. I paired the Arc Toolkit, ANDI, and WAVE with keyboard navigation and VoiceOver, which is how I caught issues that tools alone tend to miss, such as focus order, unnamed elements, and link text that does not say where it goes.

Findings tied to specific locations and concrete fixes

Every issue names exactly where it lives and what to do about it. For the contrast failure, for example, I gave the measured ratio, the failing color values, and a specific darker color already in use elsewhere on the site that would pass. The report can be acted on without further interpretation.

Built to drive a rebuild, not to sit in a folder

The audit was a decision tool. It set the priorities for moving the site onto a more accessible foundation, which is why the current site looks and behaves differently from the one in the report.

Selected examples

Project notes

This is the same service I run for clients: a WCAG 2.2 audit that prioritizes what it finds, so a team knows what to fix first instead of facing an undifferentiated list. I ran it on my own site before asking anyone to trust me with theirs. The current KShep Creative website is where those findings went, which is the point: an audit is only useful if it changes what gets built next.