Why you should care and why you should take action!
I recently finished a training in ADA compliance for websites. It was illuminating and daunting, as I realizated that there’s a lot of work to be done. It also reiterated—in no uncertain terms—a gospel I’ve been preaching for several years now. Sites need to be accessible for everyone on every platform. Previously I was just focusing on responsive sites (sites that reformat for the device used, such as a phone or tablet.) Since responsive sites are de rigueur these days, I’d like to focus on your site’s accessibility…can it be accessed by people with disabilities? This includes screen readers and other technology. It’s not just a nice thing, it’s a civil law.
ADA?
For those who don’t know, ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ada.gov) According to ADA Network:
The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals 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. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.
Brick and Mortar is just a concept —
— your website is your location.
As the owner of a website, most likely you are trying to do one of the following:
- Advertise services or skills for hire (business sites)
- Advertise goods for purchase (online shopping)
- Inspire, initiate or invite someone to do something like join, subscribe or volunteer (not-for-profit or profit organizations)
- Inform or educate (government, education)
- Show off or display (galleries, museums, portfolios)
While the influx of the dot.com world eliminated the need for brick-and-mortar locations for all stores (think eBay or Amazon), all of the above categories typically had a headquarters, if not multiple locations where one could visit and interact. This would ensure a unique experience, often depending on the individual needs of the visitor. For instance, when visiting a municipal building or institute of learning, a variety of methods are available to get to higher floors (stairs, elevators, ramps and escalators).
You need to treat your website like it’s a place to visit, not a brochure.
ADA for telecommunications includes website design, and that means making your site accessible to all that can use a device that reads web code. This includes screen readers for the visually impaired, closed captions for folks with hearing impairment, and people who need to give vocal keyboard commands because they don’t have use of their hands.
Aren’t all websites ADA compliant? After all, I use (choose one: Square Space, WordPress, Joomla, GoDaddy)
Ensuring your website is ADA compliant takes skill and know-how. Even with drag-and-drop and state-of-the-art web builders, knowing how to put together content, add alt-tags and compliant contrasting colors just to name a few thing, it takes someone familiar with coding, UI/UX techniques and the best practices advised by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) to ensure that your site meets at minimum the A Level of Conformance. Here is the W3C’s complete and exhaustive list of technical conformance guidelines.
Why should I worry if my site is not conforming to ADA Standards?
While currently large businesses, educational institutions, government sites and other high-profile sites that serve a large and diverse audience are getting hit with lawsuits (Gil vs Winn-Dixie), the potential for this to affect businesses of all sizes is very real. According to Business.com,
“Any business that is considered a “place of public accommodation” is required to provide equal access to services under the nondiscrimination requirements of Title III of ADA. When you look at the guidelines closely, this includes hotels, entertainment venues, legal and accounting firms, retail stores, and virtually every business that is not a private club, including businesses that exist solely on the web.” (Read full article.)
What Can I DO?
If you use outside resources for your web needs, or have a dedicated web person or company, call them immediately. If you have a department or staff, even better. But— if you are working on your own, you would do yourself and your business a favor to contact a reputable web developer to discuss how to make your site accessible and avoid possible lawsuits. The older your website, the more likely it is that it is NOT compliant. Take action now!
Some recommended articles:
From the LA Times: Is your company’s website accessible to the disabled? You’d better hope so
From Associations Now: A Court Verdict Raises the Pressure for Website Accessibility
From Campus Suite: How to respond to a school website accessibility complaint from OCR
