But back to Michael's effort — it seems to validate things have not improved nearly two years after #UserWay / #LevelAccess had that hilarious failure with LLM-generated “accessible” code supposedly trained on its own stuff.
Ref: http://FuxMyCode.ai/
From @LFLegal:
New on LFLegal: Another small business filed a federal class action lawsuit against a web #accessibility #overlay company. Why was UserWay sued? It believed the hype, licensed the software, and still got sued by a #blind person who couldn't use the site. #disability
https://www.lflegal.com/2025/02/userway-overlay-lawsuit/
From me: #LevelAccess is #UserWay now, remember that.
Help further digital #accessibility #research by completing this anonymous survey by August 29. Conducted in partnership with #LevelAccess, #IAAP, and #G3ict. Findings will be published in aggregate in our annual State of Digital Accessibility Report, a key resource for digital accessibility #education and progress benchmarking.
Oh hey, it’s #GAAD.
Be on the lookout for the (mostly corporate) performative A11yship of #GAAD which is about to fill your timelines.
A couple years ago I demonstrated #overlay companies as the worst offenders:
https://adrianroselli.com/2022/05/the-performative-a11yship-of-gaad.html
#accessiBe #AudioEye #FACILiti #LevelAccess #UserWay #accessibility #a11y
Irony.
It's unfortunate when good messages are undercut (while also validated in this case?) because the site hosting them uses an #accessibility #overlay. In this case, #UserWay by #LevelAccess.
Edited to add link to valuable article: https://www.c-q-l.org/resources/articles/many-disability-professionals-dont-understand-ableism/
I memorialized this in my post tracking #UserWay / #LevelAccess bad behavior:
https://adrianroselli.com/2021/09/userway-will-get-you-sued.html#FakeForbes
Broader reach and easier than finding this thread.
I have updated three posts on my site with this info (mostly the same content, tweaked for each post):
• “#UserWay Will Get You Sued”
https://adrianroselli.com/2021/09/userway-will-get-you-sued.html#CGDoJ
• “ADA Web Site Compliance Still Not a Thing”
https://adrianroselli.com/2022/03/ada-web-site-compliance-still-not-a-thing.html#Update09
• “‘Accessibility at the Edge’ W3C CG Is an Overlay Smoke Screen”
https://adrianroselli.com/2022/09/accessibility-at-the-edge-w3c-cg-is-an-overlay-smoke-screen.html#Update05
Misrepresentation and misuse of the W3C brand and its employee / contractor relationships is the UserWay (now #LevelAccess) norm.
Consider when reading obvious puff pieces like this one:
“How Level Access Acquiring UserWay Transforms The Web Accessibility Market”
https://web.archive.org/web/20240409112122/https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2024/04/09/how-level-access-acquiring-userway-transforms-the-web-accessibility-market/
Signs this is astroturfing:
• Claims it is ‘AI’ (it never was, & UserWay’s first LLM effort is still a gag),
• effusive positive terms to describe it and #LevelAccess,
• ignores heaps of (real) press critical of UserWay,
• no other sources,
• #UserWay has a history of doing this (see its overlay Community Group).
FT article that references #AudioEye, #accessiBe, #UserWay (#LevelAccess), and #EqualWeb along with #overlays in general:
https://front-end.social/@tink/112228546128718031
Non-paywall link:
https://archive.is/MRhll
While it mischaracterizes the crappy algorithms as ‘AI’, the output is still shitty for users regardless of branding.
@koos It’s an #overlay. It may not lie as openly as #UserWay (#LevelAccess) or #accessiBe, and it may not file frivolous lawsuits like #AudioEye, but Eye-Able introduces WCAG violations and does not fix much. You can read the discussion around trying to get itself delisted from the Overlay Fact Sheet a few months ago:
https://github.com/karlgroves/overlayfactsheet/issues/1086
FWIW, most overlay companies also do manual work. But Eye-Able’s own errors demonstrate it likely isn’t good at that either.
1. This talk: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17kTEwIRfHDtygt4iw71dTRXIJ4rLCDOUPC3vL-SUGcs/edit#slide=id.g2c0e9fc6f1c_1_19
2. Much of this: https://visperoinc.sharepoint.com/:p:/s/TPGiPermalinks/Ec9QVzJwd1NLkuEKcrVz4ksBzc82HdaC1P7BFEKj0UiYFQ?rtime=q1uZBSdN3Eg
3. A bit of this: https://webaccessibilitysurvey.com/wp-content/uploads/CSUN-Web-Survey-Findings-from-Online-Disability-Communities-2024.pptx
4. Suspicious missing #AudioEye session (with #GAAD co-founder): https://adrianroselli.com/2023/02/audioeye-will-get-you-sued.html#comment-284421
5. *Everyone* congratulating me about #AudioEye.
6. People correctly referring to #LevelAccess as an overlay vendor.
7. Folks frustrated Level Access framing its #UserWay buyout as a balm to burn-out.
8. Attached stickers (from @lloydi & Silktide).
[3/3]
Aaron’s is a less acerbic and more hopeful version of my binary “No, ‘AI’ Will Not Fix Accessibility”:
https://adrianroselli.com/2023/06/no-ai-will-not-fix-accessibility.html
Léonie’s confirms that #UserWay / #LevelAccess has trained its LLM on its own broken code and has not improved since I called it out 8 months ago:
https://adrianroselli.com/2021/09/userway-will-get-you-sued.html#MoreFakeAI
The point is, these are fallible tools that can be helpful with the right existing knowledge or in absence of anything else.
Remember that SLAPP #AudioEye filed against me?
The Accessibility Craft podcast covers it in its first episode discussing overlays:
https://accessibilitycraft.com/a-long-overdue-discussion-on-accessibility-overlays-paperback-capiche/
Also touches on #LevelAccess becoming an #overlay vendor with its acquisition of (the amoral, IMO) #UserWay.
I can neither confirm nor deny Amber’s assertion about who “won” that SLAPP, BTW. The settlement agreement precludes me speaking about it.
41 positive responses to my comment on the #LevelAccess CEO statement on the #UserWay purchase:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7147128447151013888?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7147128447151013888%2C7147955973423321090%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287147955973423321090%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7147128447151013888%29
The Level Access CEO has not responded — and I did not ask a question, so that is fine. But after a handful of initial replies, he has stopped responding.
I assume lawyers suggested he not comment further.
Which also suggests Level Access has decided to end its dialog with the #accessibility industry and community.
Pat notes that if #LevelAccess successfully fixes #accessibility issues at the source for #UserWay customers, then the #overlay product will no longer have its claimed value (other than offering crappy versions of features already built into browsers).
Which suggests #LevelAccess is financially motivated not to kill the monthly revenue streams it just paid $100 million to acquire.
Utter horseshit framing from #UserWay (now #LevelAccess):
“[‘Accessibility at the Edge’ Community Group] is where W3C is developing, identifying, and categorizing existing and prospective features relating to edge computing technologies in the realm of internet accessibility, including the role of overlays.”
No, @w3c is not doing that. You and #overlay shills are.
Remember, W3C Community Groups do not speak for W3C, and this one in particular is a smokescreen:
https://adrianroselli.com/2022/09/accessibility-at-the-edge-w3c-cg-is-an-overlay-smoke-screen.html
Eric Eggert has gathered his thoughts on #LevelAccess entering the #overlay market: https://yatil.net/blog/level-access-userway
He also captures how #UserWay works (or doesn’t) on the Beyond Meat site:
https://youtu.be/xtP-gstvHrI
(Hour long narrated video with flickering that is warned in advance, and no I have not watched it all yet.)
I left a comment on the #LevelAccess CEO statement on the #UserWay purchase:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7147128447151013888?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7147128447151013888%2C7147955973423321090%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287147955973423321090%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7147128447151013888%29
I resent that this conversation is happening on LinkedIn. But Level Access has no true blog with comment features, and LinkedIn seems to be the only platform it uses that also allows feedback.
If you purchase a company that has:
• lied about “ADA compliance”,
• stolen content from others,
• relied on false advertising,
• pushed its broken LLM,
• manipulated WAVE checks,
• claimed lawsuit protection,
…and then reward that behavior by making its CEO / founder the president of your own company, then I am wary of claims the behavior will stop.
https://adrianroselli.com/2021/09/userway-will-get-you-sued.html#LevelAccessBuysUserWay
I’ve mostly taken a break from social media for the festive season, but the UserWay/Level Access news is too troubling.
We’ve been shouting that “overlays don’t work” for years, while VCs have bet their money that they’ll be profitable.
With this kind of exit lining their investors’ pockets, we should expect to see lots more investment in “accessibility” “solutions” like this.
#a11y #accessibility #LevelAccess #UserWay
