What exactly is required to make your website ADA compliant?
Even though the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t explicitly state how to make a website ADA compliant, we know what the best practices are:
- WCAG 2.1 AA conformance
- posting a conspicuous accessibility statement
We know this because this is what the Department of Justice (DOJ) has mandated in settlements resulting from private enforcement actions concerning digital accessibility.
However, practically, it’s crucial that we prioritize the accessibility issues that plaintiffs’ law firms look for and claim the most. These are the issues that frequently lead to demand letters and lawsuits.
WCAG 2.1 AA
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are technical standards for web accessibility that tell us how we can make a website accessible.
There are different versions and conformance levels for WCAG, but WCAG 2.1 AA conformance is a great place to start.
WCAG 2.1 AA is comprised of 50 success criteria or requirements for conformance. A few examples of general requirements include:
- Adding alternative text to meaningful images
- Assigning programmatic labels to form fields
- Meeting minimum color contrast requirements
- Ensuring your website is fully navigable using only a keyboard
- Providing accurate closed captioning on video
Your website and content are likely already conformant with several success criteria and you can improve upon your accessibility working towards meeting even more success criteria.
You can learn the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in as little as three hours with the WCAG Course.
The WCAG Course is on-demand training that explains, in plain English, exactly what each success criterion is asking for.
Use the promo code accessibilitycom to get a discount when you sign up for the WCAG Course at ADACompliance.net.
Prioritization to Prevent Lawsuits
Many website owners are concerned with lawsuits and immediately seek out an audit, but what most don’t think about is the time necessary to audit and fix the accessibility issues.
An audit usually takes 3-5 weeks.
And, when website owners take on remediation themselves, the process can easily take an additional 2-5 months, if not longer.
The reason why in-house remediation takes so long is because the audit and remediation process is disjointed: an accessibility expert will find the issues and then a non-expert will try to fix those issues.
Even the most talented designers, developers, and content managers are unfamiliar with accessibility so are learning as they go and often need continual support.
Of course, during this extended period, the risk of receiving a demand letter or a complaint being filed remains.
This is why it is critical to prioritize the accessibility issues that are most likely to lead to litigation. There are 15 issues that plaintiffs’ lawyers claim over and over again. It’s extremely important to resolve these issues first.
I created The ADA Compliance Course specifically to address these issues and help website owners prevent lawsuits.
The ADA Compliance Course details what the most frequently claimed issues are, what order to work on them, and how exactly to find and fix each issue.
Use promo code accessibilitycom to get a discount when you sign up for the ADA Compliance Course at ADACompliance.net.
Accessibility Statement
An accessibility statement states your organization’s commitment to accessibility. The two essentials to an accessibility statement are:
- A statement of commitment
- Providing at least one method of contact for support and feedback
However, there are many more inclusions that can potentially be inside an accessibility statement including:
- Your investments in accessibility
- Training
- Audits
- Remediation
- Testing
- Compatibility with various technologies
- Known accessibility issues and workarounds
- Documentation of accessibility (e.g., a conformance statement)
- Accessibility resources
For help writing your accessibility statement, you can download and customize my accessibility statement template available on Accessible.org.
Posting a link to your accessibility statement from the footer of your website is common practice.
Summary
Website accessibility and ADA compliance can seem confusing, but once have the right resources in place, your next steps will come into focus.
The two keys to making your website ADA compliant are:
- WCAG 2.1 AA conformance (or 2.2)
- Posting an accessibility statement
And remember to prioritize the 15 most commonly claimed issues so that you reduce your risk of a lawsuit while you improve the accessibility of your website.
If you need a done-for-you service that can take care of everything for you (including audit and remediation), the ADA Compliance Program from Accessible.org encompasses all of my recommendations.
Additionally, feel free book a session with me if you need consultation on ADA compliance.
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