Accessibility or Standards Compliance?

People often ask me what is more important, creating web sites which are fully accessible for people with disabilities, or ones which comply with local or national standards. There is a point to doing both, but probably a combination of the two works best.

One would think that what is compliant with accessibility standards is also accessible. While ideally it would make sense, let's not forget that there are many accessibility standards and guidelines.

I have seen many instances where a web application was very accessible, but all pages contained a Section 508 non-compliance issue, because the frames were not named properly. The frames, however, were not relevant when using this application. In other instances, an application was totally Section 508 compliant, at least considering the minimal requirements, but by no means accessible, because images were not properly described, even though they contained an alternative text. For people with visual impairment, this solution will not be sufficient, still, it satisfied all legal requirements.

So, the question remains, which of the above two scenarios is the better alternative. Should we concentrate on accessibility and use common sense, or on standards. My personal opinion is to pick a set of guidelines, or use local legal standardization if there is any in order to have a tool to measure accessibility consistently across the entire site. Once this system is established, let's also make sure that all issues are addressed which are not covered, or not adequately covered in any standardization. After all, the whole idea is to make technology available to all, including people with disabilities.

What do you think? What's your or your organization's approach? Do you have any personal experience to share? Feel free to leave a comment.