Par Sentio Consulting

Assessment Contexts

Accessibility assessment is not only about identifying issues. It is about producing evidence that can responsibly support organizational, legal, and operational decisions.

Par Sentio supports accessibility assessment in two primary contexts: organizational responsibility and external reliance. Both rely on the same assessment rigor, standards alignment, and evidence-based methods. They differ in how findings are used and what kinds of decisions depend on them.

Assessments commonly inform decisions such as:

• Understanding accessibility exposure across internal systems and content
• Determining whether additional assessment or remediation activities may be warranted
• Supporting responsible reliance on accessibility findings
• Evaluating vendors, platforms, and products
• Informing legal, insurance, procurement, and regulatory analysis

Organizational Responsibility

Organizations responsible for their own digital systems use accessibility assessments to identify barriers, understand exposure, and establish a factual baseline for action. Findings support informed decision-making, internal accountability, accessibility documentation, and determination of whether additional assessment or remediation activities may be warranted.

External Reliance

Professionals evaluating accessibility for others rely on assessment findings to support validation, due diligence, oversight, and formal reliance. In these contexts, assessment rigor, documentation quality, and evidence handling are critical because findings may inform procurement, litigation, insurance, regulatory, or risk management decisions.

Assessment Contexts and Decision Use

Dimension	Organizational Compliance (Internal)	Due Diligence and Validation (External)
Who this applies to	Organizations responsible for accessibility outcomes across internally managed systems and externally sourced platforms used by employees, customers, or the public.	Organizations evaluating accessibility claims or risk associated with vendors, partners, products, or third-party digital systems.
Why accessibility law matters	Accessibility laws define organizational obligations and exposure, helping organizations understand accessibility risk, responsibilities, and potential consequences	Accessibility laws define how findings may be relied upon in procurement, litigation, insurance review, regulatory oversight, and governance decisions.
Primary purpose	To identify accessibility barriers, understand organizational exposure, and establish a factual baseline for action.	To obtain objective, evidence-based findings that support evaluation, validation, and responsible reliance.
How results are used	Establish accessibility exposure and risk Support informed decision-making Provide evidence for future accessibility efforts	Support procurement and vendor review Inform insurance and legal analysis Enable regulatory oversight Support enterprise risk management
Common triggers	Accessibility complaints Regulatory deadlines Internal initiatives Enterprise risk reviews	RFPs and procurement evaluations Underwriting, renewal, or reinstatement Litigation support or pre-discovery Regulatory audits
Typical outputs	Findings reports Risk characterization Executive summaries Risk-informed interpretation	Audit findings Compliance summaries Validation documentation Risk narratives
Shared foundation	WCAG-aligned assessment Lived-experience testing Documented evidence	WCAG-aligned assessment Lived-experience testing Documented evidence