ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As far back as 1990, this act was signed into law by President George H.W. And it’s one of America’s most important laws regarding accessibility and civil rights for people with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs; schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.

Simply put, the law requires businesses to make accommodations for people with disabilities.

This means that all your web content should be accessible to the blind, deaf, and those who must navigate by voice, screen readers or other assistive technologies.

Everything comes under scrutiny; websites, apps, and pdfs all included. All of these are susceptible to lawsuits and litigation.

ADA Lawsuits Are on the Rise!

Since 2017, the number of ADA lawsuits has skyrocketed. The year 2018 alone saw over 2,200 cases alone not to mention the rising number of ADA legal complaints and lawyers’ demand letters filed against businesses with non-accessible websites in the last few years which never made it to public headlines.

Just take a look at these statistics when it comes to ADA & WCAG compliance:

• Lawsuits are mounting and are expected to increase…
• The Department of Justice has backed ADA website Lawsuits
• $6,000,000 was the Settlement Cost of a Recent Case
• $50,000+ is the Average Legal Cost to Small Businesses

More than 10,000 websites were sued in 2020 due to non-compliance. This number is expected to hit 100k by 2022.

Who Is Affected?

Business owners are getting sued left and right, no matter the size of your business. It’s a serious mistake to think that ADA only affects very large corporations. All types and all sizes of businesses have to comply with ADA legislation for their customers or web visitors. Even the physical businesses are not left out!

It doesn’t matter if you’re:

• An Online Marketer
• A Doctor, Chiropractor
• A Local Business Owner
• A realtor
• An Ecommerce Store Owner
• A CEO
• A Local Consultant
• A Web Developer
• An Affiliate Marketer
• Any Type of Profession

 

How Do You Tell If Your Website Is ADA Compliant?

First, you need to carry out an accessibility audit on your website to determine if it is ADA compliant or not. And if it is not, the next question is, what is the level of deviation from the compliance guidelines and what needs to be done?

The accessibility audit covers fours areas of compliance. They are:

• Perceivable
• Operable
• Understandable
• Robust

All of these guidelines may seem a little vague to a lot of business owners. 

And the bad news is, ignorance of the law is NOT an excuse!

But the good news is, we are here to help!

To know the status of your website, simply send us an email containing your website URL, so we can carry out a FREE accessibility audit of your website after which a comprehensive accessibility report will be sent to you completely free of charge.