What Is The Law?

Since January 2018, federal agencies, contractors, and employers as well as agencies that receive federal funding are required to make their websites ADA accessible in accordance with Section 508.

Who Is At Risk?

If you don’t fall under this category, you may still be taken to court for not having an accessible website and held to these specifications until there are formalized specifications for non-governmental agencies. Industries that are the most vulnerable to ADA lawsuits include:

• Ecommerce
• Attorneys
• Psychiatrists
• Retail

The degree to which businesses are being held to these standards is variable depending on the state, court, and type of business, so lawsuits can be difficult to prevent, and their outcomes can unpredictable. Businesses are often advised to pay the asking dollar amount for damages and attorney’s fees ($4,000) because fighting the violation in court would most assuredly cost more.

Accessibility Is Important

Persons with disabilities reasonably expect to be able to gather information, purchase products, and get in contact with a business online just like an able-bodied person. A website may be found to be inaccessible if there is information, content, or services provided on the website that is not accessible in the physical location, or, if the website is inseparably tied to the physical location in such a way that those who can’t access the website are missing out.

Increase Your Audience & Improve Rankings

Aside from avoiding legal consequences, ADA compliance online can provide many benefits to your business. Ensuring that your website is accessible to everyone regardless of any disability will expand your target audience to cover an additional 20% of the country (United States Census).

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines also overlap extensively with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. If your website meets the accessibility guidelines, it will quite likely excel with search engine rankings as well as pave the way for complete accessibility. Make your business accessible to everyone, and everyone will have the opportunity to take advantage of what you offer.

Here’s What We Can Offer

Because at this time there are no legal standards for ADA compliance online for non-governmental businesses, no website can be made 100% secure. However, taking steps in the right direction can have a huge impact on deterring lawsuits and proving to your customers that you care about accessibility.

Our packages start at $750 and will include a personalized evaluation of the accessibility issues on your website and a consultation on how to best make a plan for your business.

Compliance with the push of the button sounds too good to be true, because it is. While you may see plugs and services offering immediate compliance, it’s important to understand that compliance is a long-term goal that will take time, money, and procedural changes.

According to The WCAG 2.0 , these are the main 4 principles to a compliant website:

1. Perceivable

• Customizable color contrasts and font sizes

• Text is accessible in HTML format

• Images have alt tags

• Videos have captions

2. Operable

• Can be navigated completely with a keyboard (tab, arrow, enter, and space keys)

• Time limits, automatically playing content, and flashing multimedia can be disabled

3. Understandable

• Content is clear and understandable

• Easy for users to correct and avoid mistakes

• Intuitive to navigate 

4. Robust 

• Compatible with future and current tools and features.

• Content and code are kept up to date.

Get In Touch With Us

If you’re concerned about ADA compliance on your website, get in touch with us today to create a customized plan of action for your website.