Deque Systems
{{Short description|American digital accessibility company}}
{{Notability|1=Companies|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox company
| logo=Deque logo.svg
| logo_caption = Logo since 2018
| logo_size=200px
| name = Deque Systems
| type = Private Company
| location = Herndon, VA
| key_people = {{Unbulleted list
|Preety Kumar (CEO)
}}
| area_served = Worldwide
| industry = Web Accessibility
| homepage = {{Url |https://www.deque.com}}
}}
Deque Systems ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː|k|j|uː}} {{respell|DEE|kew}}) is a digital accessibility company based in Herndon, Virginia with additional offices in Kavuri Hills Madhapur, Hyderabad India and Utrecht, The Netherlands.
History
The CEO of Deque Systems is Preety Kumar.{{cite web| url = http://www.washingtonexec.com/2012/07/deque-systems-software-makes-websites-more-accessible/| title = Deque Systems Software Announces Disruptive Web Technology for Disabled Customers - WashingtonExec| date = 13 July 2012}}
The company was started in 1999 and produces accessibility testing software in addition to offering accessibility consulting services and training.{{Cite web |last=SCHWARZ" |first="ALAN |title=Forbes' Accessibility 100 List 2025: Innovation in Accessibility |url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/accessibility-100/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Forbes |language=en}}
In June, 2015 Deque open-sourced the accessibility rules engine axe-core.{{cite web| url= https://www.prweb.com/releases/accessibility_testing_goes_open_source_and_mainstream/prweb12781399.htm| title = Accessibility Testing Goes Open Source and Mainstream}}
In May 2020, the WorldSpace brand name was retired and replaced by axe for each of Deque's products.{{cite web| url= https://news.yahoo.com/deque-unifies-accessibility-software-offerings-130000528.html| title = Yahoo {{!}} Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos|publisher=Yahoo! News}}
In September 2020, Deque found that the majority of vote by mail applications were inaccessible, and fixed them for the 2020 Presidential Election.{{cite web| url= https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/01/digital-vote-by-mail-applications-in-most-states-are-inaccessible-to-people-with-disabilities/| title = Digital vote-by-mail applications in most states are inaccessible to people with disabilities – TechCrunch| date = October 2020}}{{cite web| url = https://time.com/5894405/election-2020-absentee-ballot-applications-disability-rights/| title = Absentee Ballot Applications Are Not Accessible to Voters with Disabilities in 43 States| date = 30 September 2020|publisher=Time}}{{cite web| url = https://www.businessinsider.com/ballot-applications-voters-with-disabilities-43-states-inaccessible-2020-9| title = Ballot Applications in 43 States Inaccessible to Voters With Disabilities| website = Business Insider}}{{cite web| url= https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/accessibility/519030-audit-found-43-states-mail-in-ballot-applications-are| title = Audit found 43 states' mail-in ballot applications are not accessible for people with disabilities {{!}}| date = 30 September 2020|work=The Hill}}
Products
Deque tools, services and training are used to achieve compliance in support of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,{{cite web| url = https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/| title = Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List}} the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 508, the European Accessibility Act, and EN 301 549.https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/03.02.01_60/en_301549v030201p.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}
[https://dequeuniversity.com/ Deque University] is a collection of online accessibility training courses covering a range of topics from introductory level to expert-level International Association of Accessibility Professionals CPACC.{{cite web| url = https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/cpacccertification| title = AccessibilityAssociation}}
=Axe Tools=
[https://www.deque.com/axe/ axe] is a suite of accessibility testing tools for HTML, Android, and iOS applications. Each product in the axe toolkit is powered by the open source rules engine axe-core.{{cite web| url= https://wptavern.com/axe-an-open-source-javascript-library-for-automating-accessibility-testing| title = aXe: An Open Source JavaScript Library for Automating Accessibility Testing – WP Tavern| date = March 2016}}{{cite web| url = https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-and-deque-make-accessibility-easy-millions-developers| title = Microsoft and Deque make accessibility easy for millions of developers {{!}} Windows Central| date = 9 July 2019}}
Products within the axe suite include: [https://www.deque.com/axe/devtools/ axe Devtools], [https://www.deque.com/axe/monitor/ axe Monitor] and [https://www.deque.com/axe/auditor/ axe Auditor].