With more people relying on the internet for everything, from shopping to studies and work to socializing, web accessibility has become the need of the hour.
So, regardless of how well-built and navigable your site is, if it doesn’t adhere to the web accessibility guidelines, you’ll struggle to build an online presence – and might get sued in a worst-case scenario.
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), for instance, forbids discrimination against disabled people. So, if your website doesn’t provide equal opportunity to everyone, you’re missing out on something crucial.
We’ll explore more about ADA web accessibility and why it has become a legal requirement today.
What Is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility is a concept that states everyone must be able to access, read, and comprehend the content on your website.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first law that took action to cater to the needs of the disabled. ADA followed it later.
Data reveals that around a billion people globally have some form of disability, and around 26% of people in the US alone have a disability.
Unfortunately, many websites are inaccessible to the disabled. For instance, a study of 1 million homepages shows that around 97.8% fail to adhere to the web content accessibility guidelines.
However, since websites are considered places of public accommodation, all commercial and public sectors must show compliance with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. This means they must make their websites accessible to everyone without discrimination.
Besides, private sectors that get funds must also maintain web accessibility.
Determining a Website’s Accessibility
Because there are limited guidelines about making websites ADA-compliant, confusion surrounds determining whether or not a site is accessible.
In fact, a prominent company like Domino’s Pizza was sued when a blind man tried to order a pizza online. The man won the case against the company, and the firm had to compensate him due to a lack of web accessibility.
Several rules state what digital accessibility must follow. However, a few of them are unclear.
For instance, the federal government states in Section 508, “designed accessible website,” that federal and local government agencies must ensure that users can access their websites.
Recent changes to the Section 508 refer to it as a website that allows visitors to read, navigate, and interact with web content.
They also highlight that a website must provide ways for visitors to share feedback. Hence, a website not offering such information will not be considered accessible on search engines.
Note that section 508 doesn’t outline any technical standards. In fact, it requires web owners to develop a plan and make their website compliant.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Web accessibility is an international standard in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The guidelines highlight that all private and government companies providing public services must adhere to the standards.
This may include mobile applications and websites because they are considered public accommodation places.
Since WCAG’s latest version is 2.1, web owners are expected to update to the current version.
The success criteria revolve around 4 basic principles that enable anyone to access the website. These include: perceivable, understandable, operable, and robust.
Besides, the 13 guidelines highlight fundamental goals that content creators and developers must work on to make sites accessible for the disabled. WCAG also provides success criteria for each, and compliance is essential in design specifications.
Here are the four criterions WCAG enlists.
Perceivable
The content on your website must be perceivable through visuals or sound.
For instance, if a blind person visits your website, you must offer an option to convert PDFs or website text to an audio file. This will allow the visitor to listen to the audio and understand what’s on the site.
Understandable
Not everyone sees web content the same way. A few people may struggle to comprehend what you feel is perceivable. Therefore, this section states the importance of customizing the website scheme. This may include altering its color, style, font size, and spacing.
Operable
How functional is your website? Can a visitor easily navigate it?
A person with learning disabilities or visual impairment may struggle to comprehend your web content. You must offer them a screen reader to make the website more navigable.
Robust
WCAG defines robustness as the web content’s compatibility with numerous user agents, from assistive technologies to browsers like Safari, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and more.
Plus, your website must also accommodate factors like speech recognition and text magnification.
ADA Web Accessibility Guidelines
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) oversees everything related to web accessibility for the disabled in the US.
The act highlights that all organizations and individuals running websites must make them accessible for people with disabilities since they are for public use.
This implies you must offer digital accessibility through assistive technology and make your site navigable for everyone.
For instance, all websites are required to have text equivalents for graphics. This means the users must be able to acquire the same information in another format comprehensible by screen readers.
Plus, your website graphics must be accessible for the disabled, including text substitutes for graphics for visually impaired individuals.
Also read: Why You Should Optimize Website Accessibility for Holiday Shopping
Different Types of Web Content Accessibilities
ADA mentions several factors that make your website accessible to all, including people with disabilities. A few are enlisted below.
Structural
Testing a website for structural accessibility is pretty simple. You only need to ensure your site has no hindrances for keyboard users.
For instance, if it’s challenging for a person to navigate your website using a mouse and a keyboard, you must make the necessary changes to make your site navigable.
You can, for example, include pages that do not require scrolling or offer text alternatives for keyboard buttons.
Informational
Websites are repositories of information. People globally visit your site to acquire information and resolve their pain points. What if, at this point, they fail to understand what’s on your site?
A failure to comprehend information means your website lacks the accessibility factor. Make sure you avoid using complicated words and sentences that reduce the readability score of your content.
Besides, consider including short paragraphs and sentences to make the text more readable. Also, add bullet points and graphics to make your web content skimmable.
Non-Visual
You must ensure nonvisual information is accessible through keyboard navigation. Ideally, keep such content in a quickly accessible place on your website and offer shortcuts to allow the visually impaired to access content on the go.
Non-Compliance Consequences
Not adhering to the law can cause severe damage to your business reputation. Although this varies per your unique case and location, expect to pay somewhere between $15,000 to $55,000 to the court.
In fact, if a business fails during the trial, the fine could be as much as $150,000. Note that these costs do not include the expense that may go into hiring legal representatives and re-designing your site.
While hefty costs are one thing, the biggest disadvantage of adhering to the law is hurting your business reputation. Going to court leaves a bad impression on your existing and potential customers, who may lose trust in your brand.
Besides, you also lose the opportunity to target numerous potential customers with disabilities. Here’s a quick look into how many people you may miss out on when not abiding by ADA regulations.
- Around 5-15% of US citizens have reading difficulties (dyslexia), and up to 35% of entrepreneurs have dyslexia.
- Roughly 15% of adults in the US aged 18 have trouble hearing.
- Over 3% of Americans aged 40 or more are visually impaired or legally blind.
- Around 4.04 million adults in the US have dexterity problems. This implies they have difficulty using a mouse and rely on a keyboard for navigating websites.
An additional perk is that the accessible websites have a higher chance of ranking on SERPs. Since most accessibility guidelines offer a chance to improve SEO practices – from meaningful graphic alt tags to descriptive pages – they help rank quicker on search engines.
A Few Tips to Follow
To ensure you keep up with the latest web accessibility guidelines, boost your online reputation, and build a loyal customer base, you must follow a few tips. Here’s how you can ensure you’re adhering to the correct guidelines.
Know Your Regional Web Accessibility Laws
Although the general accessibility guidelines remain the same, they may vary per region. Therefore, it is essential to check your region’s unique accessibility regulations.
As a business owner, it is your responsibility to find those laws and ensure you comply with them.
For instance, a few countries, besides federal laws, have provincial regulations. Maybe you could be living in one of those. You can always check the international web accessibility regulations here.
Educate Your Team About Them
If you’re uncertain about the precise laws in your region, you can trust WCAG. Although the guidelines aren’t region-specific, the court has repeatedly accepted their standards and referred to them globally.
You can conduct events and webinars to educate your team about web accessibility practices. It’s because everyone, including your design, content creation, and product management teams, must adhere to the best accessibility practices.
Make sure you incorporate them into your policies and make them a regular part of your business.
Use Automated Accessibility Solutions
Regardless of your team’s size, keeping track of web accessibility compliance is no easy feat. Since there are numerous tasks to juggle in the workplace regularly, you need an automated accessibility solution to automate work and make your website more scalable.
XCompliant, for instance, offers dynamic solutions for WCAG and ADA web accessibility compliance. The software has numerous tools to make your website more inclusive and reach an audience globally.
Besides, you won’t need to keep track of the compliance status because the software handles the job for you.
A quick scan is all it takes to inform you about your website status. This keeps you from getting sued and damaging your reputation in the industry. In fact, it helps you reach a wider audience and boost web traffic.
Why Is Web Accessibility a Legal Requirement?
Web accessibility is a legal requirement because everyone online must be able to comprehend what’s on the site, regardless of their abilities.
By making your site accessible and adhering to ADA requirements, you help people struggling with visual or hearing disabilities.
Web development has certainly become more manageable with technological advancements. However, if your site won’t respect the accessibility standards, it’ll struggle to grow and gain recognition in the highly competitive world.
Companies that Encountered Penalties
A retail giant like Target had to pay over $6 million to settle legal claims brought to light by the National Federation of the Blind.
Reportedly, blind people couldn’t access much of the information on the site or buy something independently. Therefore, the National Federation sued the company. However, the case was settled once the retailer paid the price.
Other popular defendants include Netflix, McDonald’s, and the National Basketball Association. Besides popular companies, several small organizations have also been subject to ADA litigation.
What Makes a Website Inaccessible?
Any website that fails to adhere to accessibility regulations set by WCAG and ADA will be considered inaccessible. A website, for instance, must be designed for use by electronic screen readers that read the web page’s visual elements to the visually impaired.
Plus, the audio content must include synchronous captioning to help people with hearing disabilities.
Further, sites must accommodate several keyboard combinations to make navigation easier for the disabled.
Ensure to scan your website with an automated tool to know whether or not you’re following the accessibility standards.
Conclusion
The world is progressing by leaps and bounds, and so is technology.
Since people have become more reliant on the web after the pandemic outbreak, businesses seek to make their websites more functional for obvious reasons. It helps them reach a wider audience and build their reputation in the industry.
Designing a minimalistic website isn’t all; you must comply with ADA web accessibility regulations to make it accessible for all. Not only will it help you reach an audience globally, but it’ll also protect you from legal cases that may take a toll on your reputation.
Finally, do not forget to invest in a reliable automation tool to make compliance more manageable and secure.
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