What an incredible honor and privilege to live in the greatest country in the world, the United States. While celebrating our country’s 250th at the NFB National Convention in Austin Texas, and in preparation for the 36th Anniversary of the ADA on July 24, 2026, AccessAbility Officer hosted the 1st ever Accessibility Test-A-Thon to help one lucky non-profit to serve more people by becoming more accessible. And we couldn’t have found a better non-profit to do this with, See3D.org.
You’ll learn exactly what we did, how we did it, and what were our results. You’ll also get the pictures and videos we took along the way.
But first, none of this would be possible without AccessAbility Officer’s own Liam Colburn, Todd Elzie, Marisa Reder, and everyone who showed up to support See3D.org! So huge shout out to y’all! It truly means the world to us, and everyone using See3D.
For improved accessibility, watch the Accessibility Test-A-Thon video on Facebook.
Cliff Notes of AccessAbility Officer’s Test-A-Thon
- AccessAbility Officer hosted the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon-a pro bono digital accessibility audit-for the nonprofit See3D at the NFB National Convention in Austin, Texas.
- Blind, low vision, and hearing impaired testers logged 60 issues using DARTAudit in 75 minutes.
- Only manual issues were logged-no DARTAudit automated accessibility tests were run.
- Of the 60 issues logged, 31 were confirmed as WCAG violations.
The longer story is next, but the Test-A-Thon Leader Board is below, if you want to know exactly who logged the most confirmed WCAG accessibility violations in 75 minutes using DARTAudit!
Celebrating the USA and ADA With The 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon
In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act promised equal access to the world. But it was debated, argued, and written in the 1980s. Back then, “The World” was limited to the ramps, curb cuts, and doors of the built environment.
Hamburger menus were something you looked at in the drive-thru, not on your phone while sitting in the drive-thru of your FAD Tessla…
Fast forward to 2026, most people would prefer to order from their screen than from the drive-thru.
“Why cook or do dishes when Door Dash can have everything to me in 45 minutes?”
“Why go to the grocery store, when someone else can bring me what I want?”
Who’d ever in their life shop at Wal-Mart when there’s Walmart.com? …Don’t answer that.
It’s not just what we buy. It’s our banks, our doctors, the library, our kid's homework, and our work at home. It’s interwoven into the fabric of our society, education, culture, business, news, and government.
The ADA mandates the digital world be accessible to people with disabilities because the internet, the world wide web, on our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices is how we work, live, and play today.
We live in an incredible country. The land of the free! So, in the spirit of our forefathers, to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the United States, in honor and gratitude of the 36th Anniversary of the ADA, this year we decided to host the 1st ever Accessibility Test-A-Thon at the NFB National Convention in Austin Texas.
Have you heard of See3D? Well, you’re about to find out what they do and the impact they make!
Meet See3D-Accessibility Is Literally Their Mission
See3D is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in the US that prints tactile 3d models to help blind and low vision individuals better see things.
Sure, you can tell a blind person what a bat looks like, but what if they could hold a life-sized, perfectly shaped, 3D bat?
Sure, you can tell a blind person about the nearest city park and the way it’s laid out, but what if they could feel it to better orient themselves before they got there?
Yeah, you could describe a blind person’s neighborhood, streets, and intersections, but what if they could actually feel what it looks like and begin to form mental models of the neighborhood, streets, and intersections in their head?
Imagine how access to printed 3D models could enhance and augment a child’s learning. Imagine a blind parent wanting to take their child to the park, but not knowing how to get to the swing set. See3D also helps blind individuals tactilely see anything from constellations, to famous landmarks, and works of art. See3D turns “you had to see it” moments into “here, you can hold it” moments for individuals who can’t just see it.
That’s why See3D was chosen for the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon hosted by AccessAbility Officer. We wanted to ensure not one blind person across the United States, or around the world, would have any barriers or difficulty using their screen reader to order a 3D model.
What Is An Accessibility Test-A-Thon?
Similar to any other hack-a-thon to build or develop a new product, solution, or application with a specific goal, an Accessibility Test-A-Thon is a focused, hands-on event where a group of analysts, professionals, and volunteers perform an accessibility audit on a website or mobile app to log WCAG accessibility violations.
For Accessibility Test-A-Thons, the goal is to identify the issues preventing individuals with disabilities from accessing the website or mobile app, and then provide the report with remediation guidance for each confirmed violation so they can be fixed.
Any monkey can click a button to run an automated accessibility test to identify WCAG accessibility violations. That’s the easy part.
The difficult part is actually finding the real issues that real users face when using their native assistive technology.
Automated testing tools like DARTAudit can only find about 33% of all WCAG success criteria violations. Meaning, after you’ve fixed all issues that can be found using automated accessibility testing, you still have to manually test 66% of the remaining WCAG success criteria.
For this reason during the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon, we only focused on detecting violations that can only be found through manual testing methods.
WCAG Accessibility Violations Were Logged Using DARTAudit
All 60 issues were logged during the Test-A-Thon using DARTAudit which, unlike a lot of accessibility tools, is actually accessible itself.
Thank goodness DARTAudit is so easy to use because nearly every analyst, professional, and volunteer had never used DARTAudit before the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon! We literally connected our laptop to the room’s AV system, demoed DARTAudit once, and said go!
DARTAudit was built with assistive technology and keyboard only users in mind, so every blind and low-vision tester were able to run their audits independently. While optimized for assistive technology, screen reader, and keyboard only users, DARTAudit’s One right-click quickly captures many details automatically needed for an accessibility audit, including screenshots of the element, source code, XPath, browser version, operating system, and more. These DARTAudit capabilities ensured See3D got the strongest remediation guidance. Not too mention Liam Colburn writing code-level recommendations for See3D to ensure they are able to fix the issues quickly and easily.
1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon Leader Board!
In 75 minutes, our testers logged 60 issues using manual accessibility testing methods on See3D.org. After Liam, one of AccessAbility Officer’s Test Managers, reviewed each of the 60 issues, he confirmed that 31 issues logged were confirmed WCAG accessibility violations.
Here are the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon’s Top Testers, ranked by number of confirmed WCAG violations logged.
| Tester | Valid issues logged |
|---|---|
| Mary Ann Jawili | 10 |
| Kirsten French | 9 |
| Ryan Nobleett | 6 |
| Ellie Alvarado | 6 |
| Mary Beth Ritter | 6 |
The reason the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon’s Leader Board has more than 31 confirmed issues is because multiple testers found the same issue.
We organized accessibility testers according to the test plans, pages in scope, and the time we had available, but some testers were assigned to the same pages. Therefore, while the number of confirmed violations logged exceeded 31, there were a total of 31 unique issues logged during the 1st Accessibility Test-A-Thon!
We're AccessAbility Officer, we help government agencies, education institutions, and businesses meet compliance with state and federal laws on digital accessibility. We just happen to be owned, led, and managed by people with disabilities.
From your first Audit, to upskilling your team with Trainings, PDF Remediation, or accessibility tools in the DARTSuite ecosystem, we’d love to help you meet your compliance goals.
Run a nonprofit? Check if yours qualifies for a Reduced-Cost Non-Profit Accessibility Audit.
FAQ
What is an Accessibility Test-A-Thon? An Accessibility Test-A-Thon is an event where a group of testers audit a website, mobile app, or other digital asset together to log as many WCAG violations as possible.
Will an automated accessibility test find WCAG violations on my website? Automated accessibility tests cannot detect all WCAG violations. Manual testing is required for 66% of detectable WCAG violations and accessibility automated tests can detect 33% of WCAG violations.
Who is See3D? See3D is a 501c-3 nonprofit that coordinates the printing and distribution of 3D-printed tactile models for people who are blind or have low vision.