What Is ADA Compliance? (How ADA Impacts Your Website) (2024)

Is your website following theADA compliancestandards?

In 2010,the United States Department of Justice released specific guidelines for all public organizations to follow to become accessible to all people with disabilities. That includesall disabled people that use computers and smart devices.

Becoming ADA compliant is a proactive effort to not only make all organizations inclusive, but by becoming accessible toallpeople,it’s a proactive way for organizations to grow.

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

The ADA is a civil law that mandates the inclusion of all people, especially those with disabilities, inall areas of public life. That includes the workplace, schools, transportation, and any other places open to the general public.

So while the ADA requires websites and content to be accessible, it has broader guidelines that cover all disabilities and environments.

ADA compliance means following the law that requires equal opportunity for disabled individuals in the public spheres of accommodation.

So who does this apply to?

If all public spheres must adhere to ADA compliance standards, does that mean you do too?

Because ADA applies to all electronic information and technology, i.e., the world wide web and all its websites,ADA compliance applies to virtually all businesses and web developers.

Some examples include:

• State and local government organizations
• Private organizations with 15 employees or more
• Places of business that are considered a place of public accommodation
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• Organizations that work for the public’s benefit (e.g., public transportation, schools, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, hotels, banks, accountant offices, law offices, social service centers, gyms, healthcare providers, the United States Postal Service, etc.)

In most cases, when ADA compliance standards are left unmet, it’s not intentional. However, that doesn’t matter becauseif your website isn’t ADA compliant you’re at risk for a hefty lawsuit. Even if you unintentionally skipped theguidelines providedby the U.S. Department of Justice, you could still end up paying thousands of dollars in lawsuits if you’re website isn’t accessible to everyone.

In addition to a lawsuit, you’ll also be facing the following for being non-compliant with ADA compliance standards:

• Legal fees
• Possible settlement
• Potential public relations problems
• The costs involved in rebuilding your website to be compliant

On top of all of this, you run the risk of losing customers for not making your website accessible to those that are disabled. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the number of people with disabilities increases by the millions every few years. As of 2010, there were over 56million people with disabilities—that’s A LOT of people potentially being turned away due to a lack of accessibility.

As time progresses, the default standard required for websites continues to rise. In recent years WCAG 2.1 was the standard to follow. But after version 2.2 was released in October 2023, it has been ruled as the standard to comply with by U.S. state and local governments.

The WCAG guidelines have a three-tiered grading system:

Level A:Your website is only accessible bysomeusers

Level AA:Your website is accessible byalmost allusers

Level AAA:Your website is accessible byallusers

It’s usually good enough to meet Level AA of the guidelines. However, your best bet is to build (or rebuild) your website to be 100% compliant so that you don’t leave anybody out.

Here’s a breakdown of what the core principles of the WCAG guidelines look like:

All users should have the ability to perceive any and allinformation that appears on your website. That includes things like text, images, videos, and so on.

When we say perceivable, we’re talking about offering alternatives to create accessibility. For example, if your users can’t see, there should be an option to listen to the text. If they can’t hear, there should be an option for closed captioning.

For some, ADA compliance means overhauling your entire website to ensure that the accessible alternatives are built into their HTML coding. It’s costly and tedious, but it’s also necessary. Plus, it’ll become even more costly if youdon’tdo it.

Think of ADA compliance as a good thing. It’s a way to make your organization inclusive to all, which means more businessanda better reputation. If you need help getting started,contact us today. We specialize in accessibility compliance services, and we’ll have you at the highest level of ADA compliance in no time.