How to write an accessibility statement for your Shopify store

By AbleAisle. Updated 15 October 2026.

An accessibility statement is a page on your store that tells customers what you've done to make the store accessible, where you know it falls short, and how to contact you if they have trouble. For customers with disabilities it's a practical page: it tells them that you care, and gives them a way to get help or to buy another way.

This guide explains what to include, what to avoid, and how to publish a statement on Shopify.

Why have one

• It helps customers. Someone who can't complete a task on your store has a clear way to tell you and get help.
• It shows you're working on it. An honest statement that describes what you check and what you're still improving builds more trust than silence.
• Some laws expect information about accessibility. For example, the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) has applied since 28 June 2025 to many businesses selling to consumers online in the EU, and includes requirements to provide information about how a service meets accessibility requirements. Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million) are exempt from its service requirements; Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has guidance for microenterprises. In the US, the Department of Justice has published guidance on web accessibility and the ADA. Rules differ by country and business, so ask a qualified adviser what applies to you. A statement on its own doesn't make a store meet any law.

What to include

The W3C's guide to developing an accessibility statement recommends covering these points, and offers a free generator:

1. Your commitment. A short sentence on why accessibility matters to your business.
2. The standard you're working towards. Most stores aim for WCAG 2.1 or WCAG 2.2 level AA. Say that you're working towards it, unless an expert audit has confirmed you meet it.
3. What you've done. For example: "We check our key pages with automated accessibility tools every week", "We add text descriptions to product images", "We've reviewed our theme's colour contrast".
4. Known limitations. Be specific: "Some older product videos don't have captions yet. We're adding them by March." Include third-party content you don't control, such as embedded reviews or chat widgets.
5. How to give feedback or get help. An email address, and ideally a phone number, with a realistic response time. Offer an alternative way to order if someone can't complete checkout.
6. The date. When you wrote or last reviewed the statement.

What to avoid

• Don't claim to be "fully compliant" or "100% accessible" unless a qualified audit backs it up. Automated tools can only detect some accessibility issues, and an overclaim can backfire.
• Don't rely on an overlay badge. Statements built around a widget or "accessibility toolbar" can mislead customers. Describe the real work you've done on your store.
• Don't copy another store's statement. It won't describe your store, your theme or your contact details.
• Don't let it go stale. Review it whenever you change your theme or make significant fixes, and update the date.

A short template

You can adapt this and replace the parts in brackets:

How to publish it on Shopify

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Pages and click Add page.
2. Title it "Accessibility" or "Accessibility statement", paste your statement and save.
3. Go to Online Store > Navigation, open your footer menu, and add a link to the page. The footer is where customers expect to find it, next to your policies.

AbleAisle, our Shopify app, can create the statement page for you. It drafts an honest statement covering the points above, with your contact details, measures and known limitations, avoids claims of compliance, and lets you review it before it's published.