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Section 508 Trusted Tester Conformance Test Process

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Customer Experience Directorate (CXD), formerly known as the Office of Accessible Systems & Technology (OAST), is committed to the development of Trusted Tester, a common testing approach for accessibility compliance and conformity. Trusted Tester provides a code-inspection based test approach for determining web content conformance to the Section 508 standards. 

  • Promotes a common understanding of the 508 standards. 
  • Unifies the test process, test tools, and test results reporting. 
  • Allows test results for common applications (e.g., Shared Services, COTS, etc.) to be easily shared.
  • Supports IT governance by integrating Section 508 into the development and acquisition lifecycle. 
  • Promotes the successful adoption of the changes required to integrate the TTP within an agency. 
  • Makes it easier for developers to reproduce test results and remediate issues. 

This test process incorporates all tests in the ICT Testing Baseline, which establishes the minimum requirements for compliance with the Revised 508 standards (which include WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA by reference). Test instructions that are specific to Trusted Tester only are identified with *TT-specific* or "[no baseline]." The outcomes of these tests should be noted only in the test report. 

The Trusted Tester Training Track provides a path to earn the Trusted Tester certification for web on the Windows platform. Find out more here: 

Section 508 Training  

Last Updated: 03/06/2024
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