The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Over 61 million people live with a disability in the United States.
Twenty-six percent of the population has one thing in common – the desire to have equal access to business services.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was introduced in 1990 to address this concern. Later amendments, specifically to Titles I and III, prohibit discrimination in public accommodations.
Website ADA compliance related lawsuits are on the rise.
Federal lawsuits have jumped year after year as companies fail to meet website ADA compliance accessibility guidelines. In particular, persons with disabilities have sued businesses for not providing adequate access.
The Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA aims to prohibit discrimination. It ensures equal opportunity and access to everyone, no matter their disability.
What Is Website ADA Compliance?
An ADA compliant website provides equal access to any user, regardless of their disability.
That means ensuring your site is accessible to assistive technologies like screen readers. And offering alternatives to video or audio content like providing closed captions.
In fact, the compliance checklist covers a vast array of features. So to help businesses and web developers, ADA points to the W3C for guidance.
The current WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 recommendations concentrate on five key areas of access. They include being perceivable, operable, understandable, conforming, and should be robust.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
The W3C or World Wide Web Consortium offers specific guidelines in relation to web accessibility.
Specifically, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG addresses users who are:
Blind or have low vision or are visually impaired
Suffer from deafness or hearing loss
Limited in movement
Learning disabled or have cognitive limitations
Risk of ADA Accessibility Lawsuits
Domino’s Pizza was sued in 2016. The lawsuit was based on the lack of screen reader support of their website.
A visually impaired customer could not interpret the images of their products. Missing tags meant the site was not WCAG compliant.
In 2019, the Ninth Circuit judges deemed the lawsuit had merit. They awarded in favor of the disabled man and everyone took note.
Every year more lawsuits get filed regarding ADA compliance. Small and medium businesses suffer the same as larger brands.
According to Thomas Barton, a lawyer in Philadelphia, small businesses are equally vulnerable. Filings have risen 300% since 2013 and are set to continue.
Is My Website ADA Compliant?
How do you know if your website complies with current ADA requirements? The easiest way is to use an online testing tool.
The WAVE evaluation tool crawls your site and provides a report within seconds. It highlights errors such as contrast issues, missing page regions, and redundant links.
Enter your URL or install the extensions. There’s an API and the service works with password protected sites.
WebAccessibility.com is another free online compliance evaluation tool.
It offers a toolbar and custom Java integration. And it provides a detailed report on errors it finds.
How Can I Follow Web Accessibility Guidelines?
There are two options: manual remediation and automated artificial intelligence tools.
A) Manual Remediation
This method involves an ADA specialist because most web designers look the other way because the ADA topic can be overwhelming.
The ADA specialist is manually checking your website to identify issues and fix them.
This may seem viable for a smaller site. However, what if your website has hundreds of pages that require scanning? Not to mention you need a constant evaluation of new content. One page or slip-up could lead to costly consequences.
Pricing too is of major concern, ranging from $5k for small business websites up to $100k for larger websites.
B) Automated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
It is unreasonable to have to spend five thousand dollars on a manual remediation service on a continual basis.
The perfect solution is to consider automatic compliance remediation without the need for a manual review. It is acting as smart as any human and is working on multiple pages without a huge price disparity.
Automated AI Tools offer the best ongoing website ADA compliance solution at an affordable price point of $50-$100 per month. Some AI tools achieve ADA compliance within 48 hours.
Choosing AI for Full ADA Compliance
To summarize, AI is the most effective way to make and maintain websites ADA compliant.
Remember to investigate an AI compliance provider’s services. Base your research on the issues highlighted in this article.
Following this advice results in peace of mind that your site is accessible to everyone.
DISCLAIMER: The author’s company BRIZZO is a web service provider and not a law firm or attorney, and this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Although this article contains legal information it should not be seen as legal advice. You should consult with an attorney to analyse your situation and take next steps. Also, the author’s company offers an AI solution based on the market leading AI technology, click here for more details here.