Website Disability Accommodations
What ADA compliance means for your website - and what to actually do about it.
The legal backdrop
Websites are subject to disability accommodation requirements - not just government sites, but private businesses too. Courts have increasingly ruled that websites count as "places of public accommodation" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The standard most courts and regulators point to is WCAG - the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The current standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. "Level AA" is the middle tier - not the bare minimum, not the most demanding. It's what the Department of Justice recommends, and what most accessibility lawsuits reference.
What this means in practice
Most requirements come down to a handful of categories:
- Text alternatives for images. Every meaningful image on your site should have "alt text" - a short description that screen readers (software used by people with visual impairments) can read aloud. Decorative images should be marked as decorative.
- Color contrast. Text needs to be legible against its background. Low-contrast gray-on-white text fails. There are free tools that check this.
- Keyboard navigation. Every function on your site - forms, menus, buttons - should work using only a keyboard, without a mouse. Many people with motor impairments can't use a mouse.
- Form labels. Every form field needs a proper label, not just placeholder text that disappears when you start typing.
- Captions for video. If your site has video with spoken content, captions are required.
- No rapidly flashing content. Flashing content can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive conditions.
Who gets targeted
Accessibility lawsuits have historically hit e-commerce sites hardest, but any consumer-facing business is a potential target. Small businesses have received demand letters. Most cases settle quickly - often for $5,000-15,000 plus a commitment to fix the site.
What to do
Start with a free automated scan. Tools like WAVE (wave.webaim.org) and axe are widely used and free. Automated tools catch 30-40% of issues. A manual review catches the rest.
If you're building a new site or doing a redesign, build accessibility in from the start. Retrofitting an inaccessible site is harder and more expensive.
An accessible site is also a better site in other ways - cleaner code, more readable text, and a better experience on mobile.
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