These are the grades and what you can do to earn them:

😎 Outstanding

• User interface clean, workflows intuitive, disabilities don’t matter at all!
• Disabled users can find helpful documentation and introductory material on how to use your product.
• You respond to questions and fix reported issues. You have integrated a11y resilience strategies in your development process, you’re prepared for upcoming a11y challenges in the future.

👌️ Enjoyable

• User interface clean, workflows intuitive, using your product is fun!
• Good technical decisions in the past made your product accessible, but you have no active strategies to maintain a11y.
• If someone in your company makes a bad decision, there’s a high risk of a11y degradation.

🤖 Bare minimum

• You implemented the a11y regulations rule by rule, because the validator tool should be happy.
• As a result, the product is usable, but the workflows feel clumsy and complicated.

😤 Annoying

• The product is widely usable, but it has some unnecessary quirks that don’t get fixed.
• These quirks require disabled users to figure out ridiculously complicated workarounds to extract certain information or accomplish certain tasks.
• Even if most of your product works fine, these situations diminish usage experience.

💩 Insult

• The entire product is a bunch of quirks and bad practices.
• Very experienced users can find their way through it, but it takes much time, effort, curses, and tears.
• This product should rather not exist, because many sighted people are ignorant for the difficulties and frustration.

💀 Useless

• Using your product is completely impossible, it simply doesn’t exist for disabled users.
• If your product is very popular in productive scenarios or communication, you systematically exclude disabled people from participation.
• Shame on you!