Is Your Website ADA Compliant?
If you’re a website owner, it’s a good time to check
I’ve been a blogger since 2016. I’ve also helped out with various website projects for small businesses. However, an area that wasn’t really top of mind in these projects, was website accessibility.
If you’re like most website owners, chances are that this wasn’t the top consideration when it came to website development, content publishing, digital downloads, and product sales on your website.
In recent years, there has been an increase in lawsuits against website owners who are non-compliant under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA)and California Unruh Civil Rights Act. The consequences of non-compliance involve a steep price tag. The maximum civil penalty for a single violation under Title III of the ADA can reach $75,000, while a subsequent violation can result in a maximum fine of $150,000.
Therefore, being proactive and taking measures to ensure your site is accessible before anything happens, is key.
What Do You Need To Do?
First, it’s important to note that there is no way to be 100% ADA compliant.
Even major companies with the resources to hire the best legal professionals in the world are not 100% compliant.
In order to avoid legal issues, you need to be “reasonably compliant”.
This means you satisfy the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (version 2.1 being the latest update to the guidelines).
When you work toward satisfying these requirements, you can decrease your chances of being sued for non-compliance.
First, Scan Your Website
To start, you need to scan your site and check for accessibility errors.
There are a number of tools and software that can do this (and for free). An example is WAVE.
When you input your website or specific page URL, the tool will scan the webpage and generate a report. The report will suggest issues to remedy in order to become better compliant.
It’s up to you to read through the report and make these changes as dictated across all…
