Website Accessibility Compliance with the ADA

US Supreme Court Ruling on ADA

While the issue of ADA accessibility for websites is not new, a wave of lawsuits has emerged across various industries, bringing the topic of ADA compliance to the forefront for businesses.

The Supreme Court has ruled that all business websites must be ADA-compliant according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Businesses that do not make their website accessible could face heavy fines and civil lawsuits.

Watch this Explainer Video

If you receive an ADA Demand letter or summons, your business could face:

• Fines: $75,000 to $150,000
• Attorney Fees: $5,000 to $20,000
• Civil Lawsuits: $$$$

Protect Your Business NOW!

ADA Compliance for websites

Is ADA compliance mandatory for websites?

dis·a·bil·i·ty Definition: a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.

ADA compliance is short for the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design. That means all electronic information and technology—i.e., your website—must be accessible to those with disabilities.

The ADA does not explicitly address online compliance, even after undergoing several amendments in the far more web-oriented era of 2008. With no specific coverage under the law, it usually falls to the courts to determine how ADA standards apply to websites—or whether they do at all.

If you are wondering if your business is legally obligated to make your website accessible in the U.S., and whether your website falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the answer is yes, all websites need to be accessible.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bans discrimination against any person with a disability, which includes communications technology, apps and websites. So if your website has barriers, you could be at risk.

1 – Mobility and Physical Impairments.

2 – Spinal Cord Disability.

3 – Head Injuries – Brain Disability.

4 – Vision Disability.

5 – Hearing Disability.

6 – Cognitive or Learning Disabilities.

7 – Psychological Disorders.

8 – Invisible Disabilities.

AI-powered website accessibility solution

Mental health disorders fall under the umbrella of invisible accessibility barriers.

Websites with auto-play or moving content can be impossible to navigate for those with ADHD.

Individuals who struggle with eating disorders cannot safely use social media due to trigger foods appearing in their feed.

Those with PTSD may avoid these platforms all together due to the failure for people to preface content with trigger warnings.

Most importantly, the solution that these individuals have for their struggles is to delete or stop accessing these websites if they cannot cope with it.

The most common rebuttal for this is: designing for mental health barriers is too nuanced and abstract.

The answer: give your website users a *choice* on how they experience websites. Design is already moving towards customization. Give users the ability to manipulate the site or filter out harmful engagement, avoid triggering content, and toggle accessibility options.

ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuits are coming for your business.

The number of suits and plaintiffs are expected to explode in the next few years.

View this CBS News Story about a  Disabled Veteran who had already filed over 150 lawsuits as of 2019 when this story aired.

Disability Advocacy Groups are Encouraging Disabled Persons to File Lawsuits Against Businesses to Force Change.

– Accessability.com Report

In 2021 265,000 website accessibility demand letters were sent to businesses. U.S. companies have spent billions of dollars in legal costs as a direct result of inaccessible websites in 2020 alone

• 2,352 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2021.
• Consumer Goods, Services & Retail companies were targeted the most.
• New York had more than 62% of all the cases filed nationwide.
• More than 22% of all website accessibility lawsuits were filed by five plaintiffs.

According to Kris Rivenburgh (Attorney and author of The ADA Book)

“If you receive a website (or app) accessibility demand letter under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), $25,000 is a conservative final tab after you’re done at the buffet of plaintiff’s law firm.”

He further itemizes the costs for a “smallish” business –

“allocating $5,000 – $15,000 to the plaintiff’s law firm, $5,000 to your defense attorney, and between $5,000 and $20,000 for audit and remediation costs.”

Watch this video from WFLA News Channel 8 for the story of one small business owner who was sued.

The Solution

Step 1 – Assess
Assess the Website with a thorough review and audit.

Step 2 – Implement
Implement an automated widget on the website that solves up to 90% of problems.

Step 3 – (Optional)
Manual Remediation of the website, if needed, addresses any problems the automated widget can’t solve.
(For large websites or websites that need extensive manual remediation, we may use a 3rd party company that completes the work).

Step 4 – Monitor
Once ADA updates are made on your website, an ongoing review and audit must be conducted to ensure the website meets current and future ADA requirements.

What exactly makes a website ADA-compliant?

While many components go into an ADA website conversion, below are some key considerations:

• Websites should have easily resizable text with a high contrast mode option to make the text easier to read for sight-impaired visitors.

• Photos need text descriptions for external screen reader devices so that sight-impaired visitors can interpret the content.

• PDF documents must also be properly tagged so screen readers can properly interpret non-HTML content.

• Videos on your website should include audio descriptions and transcripts for people who are hard of hearing.
• For those with limited motor skills, all key website functionality must be accessible through a keyboard.