ADA Compliance For Websites

Even though there is no specific law on the books requiring sites to be in ADA compliance, it is generally accepted that sites must be accessible under the public accommodation clause. Recent years have seen an increase in lawsuits filed against businesses and governments, alleging that their websites violate the ADA by not being sufficiently accessible to people with disabilities. As our whole society becomes more and more equitable, it's likely that this type of litigation will continue to grow.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) believes that the ADA applies to web development, even if it is not acting to issue regulations. Even so, they have made it clear that the lack of regulations doesn’t release anyone from the need to make their sites accessible.

The Department has consistently taken the position that the absence of a specific regulation does not serve as a basis for noncompliance with a statute’s requirements.

Because web accessibility regulations haven’t been made clear, it’s easy for organizations to assume that they can’t be sued. Without standards to follow, companies are forced to interpret the ADA, practicing website accessibility as they see fit while trying to avoid any lawsuits.

Produced by a working group, legal requirements for site accessibility can be classified under what's called the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). This Initiative sets forth numerous recommendations for making web content more accessible. This set of recommendations is referred to as the WCAG 2.0/2.1 guidelines.

The WCAG splits their guidelines into three levels. Level A is the lowest, AA is in the middle range, and AAA is the highest level of conformity. So, a level A of conformity means that your website meets the minimum of website accessibility. We audit and remediate at Level A and AA.

Why not Level AAA?

Often it is not possible for a website to meet the AAA level of compliance. Even the WCAG document does not recommend that Level AAA conformance be required due to the inability to conform to most of the criteria.

The number of ADA site accessibility lawsuits is on the rise and generally, the courts are allowing most of these cases to move forward. For example, the number of ADA compliance lawsuits recorded in the first six (6) months of 2018 surpassed the number of ADA compliance lawsuits brought to court during all of 2017. The top ten states with the most ADA lawsuits in 2018 included: California, New York, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The latest reporting says that there were 1,053 ADA lawsuits in the first six months of 2018 and predicted that by the end of 2018, more than 2,000 website accessibility lawsuits related to site accessibility will be filed in Federal court.

Even so, this report only accounts for Federal lawsuits. It does not include state suits, like those brought about through California’s Unruh Act. It also does not include demand letters, which typically threaten a lawsuit, but most often lead to a settlement of some type instead. Satisfying the requirements within a demand letter often requires payment by the company who had a non-compliant site, as well having to institute a mandatory annual site audit in the future. Therefore, companies are smart to think ahead, consider their site equivalent to a place of public accommodation, adopt the ADA standards, and remove the possibility of being sued.

The WCAG is split into four parts. We test every Level A and AA guideline. It total, 54 guidelines are tested for every page of your website.

Perceivable

Your website must present its information in a way that can be perceived by those with disabilities. This means that your site must be understandable (not invisible) to those with accessibility limitations. This includes:

• Text alternatives to media and non-text items.
• Include captions for audio and video.
• Presenting content in alternative ways without losing its meaning.
• Increase the ease of use for those with vision and hearing impairment.

Operable

Your website's navigation and user interface (UI) must be operable by those with disabilities. The interface cannot require that the user perform an action that they are unable to make.

• Make your site navigable with a keyboard.
• Help users navigate your website.
• Give users enough time to read the page.
• Give users enough time to read media alternatives.
• Do not include content or visual aspects that may cause seizures.

Understandable

Both the information on a website as well as how to operate the website must be understandable.

• Text must be legible and easy to comprehend.
• Content and media must appear and operate in predictable ways.
• Assist user in avoiding making mistakes on your website, and help them correct mistakes if they are made.

Robust

Your website, content, and media must be robust enough so that different assistive technology, browser user agents, readers, and other software meant to aid those in being able to access your content. The primary guideline is to maintain maximum compatibility with modern tool remain compatible with the future tool.