Nowadays the vast majority of our information is found on the Internet. An important, and in some regards, crucial and necessary tool for most businesses in our modern economy is their website. A website creates interest and traffic for a business and provides necessary information, resources, and sales. Many businesses put a huge amount of thought and investment into their website to create something that not only provides these necessary resources, information, and sales, but also represents the identity and image of the company or individual.
One thing businesses don’t often think about when developing their website, however, is ease of access for all individuals, including those with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was developed in 1990 to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as anyone else. Businesses that fall under Title I, i.e. those that operate 20 or more weeks per year with at least 15 full time employees, are covered by the ADA, as well as “public accommodation” businesses under Title III, i.e., businesses that are open to the public or that provide goods or services to the public.
These covered businesses must make accommodations for people with disabilities of various kinds—for example, ensuring that their building is accessible to those having physical disabilities. Now that the Internet is so widely used, ADA compliance also applies to websites and even mobile apps for companies that meet these requirements of the ADA. This means that your website needs to be similarly accessible to people who have physical disabilities, including impaired hearing or vision. Websites with significant inaccessible components can be seen as discriminatory against people with disabilities, in violation of Title III of the ADA, so it is important for companies to consider a compliance plan for their website.
What does an ADA-compliant website look like, exactly? There are no clear ADA regulations that spell out exactly what compliant web content is, but businesses that fall under ADA Title I or ADA Title III are required to develop a website that offers "reasonable accessibility" to people with disabilities. However, there are a number of steps one can take, based on federal websites and legal decisions, to bring their website in line with the ADA.
Here are some common ways businesses address accessibility issues associated with their web content:
Creating alt tags for all images, videos and audio files: Alt tags allow users with disabilities to read or hear alternative descriptions of content they might not otherwise be able to view. Alt tags describe the object itself and, generally, the purpose it serves on the site.
Creating text transcripts for video and audio content: Text transcripts help hearing-impaired users understand content that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.
Identifying the site's language in header code: Making it clear what language the site should be read in helps users who utilize text readers. Text readers can identify those codes and function accordingly.
Offering alternatives and suggestions when users encounter input errors: If a user with a disability is encountering input errors because of their need to navigate the website differently, the site should automatically offer recommendations to them as to how to better navigate toward the content they need.
Creating a consistent, organized layout: Menus, links and buttons should be organized in such a way that they are clearly delineated from one another and are easily navigated throughout the entire site.
Improving Contrast & Viewability: Having alternative options with higher contrast and more distinguished foreground and background options, can make it easier for visual limitations.
Keyboard Accessibility: All functionalities of a website should be able to be engaged with using just a keyboard for those who have problems with a mouse.
While it is important from a legal standpoint to ensure that a website is compliant with the ADA, making these changes can also have other added benefits such as:
Increasing the Target Audience – Increased accessibility allows for a wider variety of potential customers to visit and use a website.
Search Engine Optimization – Search engines are evolving to crawl pages with more human intention. If a website is built in such a way to improve access and comply with the ADA, such as meta tagging, alternative image text, and video transcripts will improve search engine optimization.
Better Overall Usability – Creating a more operable and navigable website will ultimately benefit all users. A website that follows the guidelines will likely convert more leads across the board, because users will trust that they can always easily find the content they need.
While ADA website compliance is a bit subjective and open to interpretation, by making a good-faith effort to achieve reasonable accessibility for users with disabilities now, businesses can get ahead of the regulatory curve in developing a compliant website and avoid potential lawsuits. Moreover, designing a compliant website can lead to more sales and better ranking on search engines. If you have any questions or concerns about your website, or you have been contacted by another party saying that you are not in compliance, we at Creative Law Network are here to help and can advise on how to protect your business.
