Everything to know about ADA Compliance
How does the ADA affect websites?
As the internet and websites played a bigger role in how consumers interact with businesses, the way that the ADA applied to web accessibility changed.
In 2017, a clear consensus emerged that the ADA also covers the online world. Disability rights activists, legal scholars, and court rulings have agreed that websites, internet portals, and online stores need to be accessible for people with disabilities. In September 2018, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote an official letter to members of Congress explaining it’s mandatory that “goods, services, privileges, or activities provided by places of public accommodation be equally accessible to people with disabilities."
Today, U.S. courts apply ADA accessibility requirements to the internet, meaning websites should comply with ADA rules. Reinforcement was displayed by the Department of Justice in 2022 when it released a new guidance on implementing web accessibility standards and practices, clarifying that the ADA indeed covers web accessibility.
How does the ADA affect websites?
ADA title III-related lawsuits have skyrocketed. There were at least 11,452 federal filings in 2021, which is a 320% increase over a short, eight-year period. And, as of 2020, 265,000 demand letters were sent to businesses that operated were inaccessible websites.
There are a few reasons why ADA web accessibility has become such a hot legal topic:
eCommerce is booming
Total U.S. eCommerce sales reached an all- time high of approximately $960 billion in 2021, and online retail in 2021 purchases now represent almost 15% of all retail spending.
Increased web accessibility awareness
High-profile lawsuits mean Increased web that people with disabilities now know they have legal recourse when they can’t conduct activities online.
The U.S. legal environment makes it easy
A person with a disability The U.s. legal has nothing to lose by filing a lawsuit since ADA Title lll requires the defendant to automatically pay the plaintiff’s legal fees.
Everyone should take ADA lawsuits seriously
Approximately 85% of ADA lawsuits in federal and state courts during 2018 were filed against small and medium retail businesses. Since it’s almost inevitable that the court would find in favor of the plaintiff, small business owners feel that they must settle out of court. The cost of defending a lawsuit could destroy even a medium-sized business, but the average ADA website lawsuit settlement still comes to $35,000.
Your web designer / agency is not responsible/liable for non-compliance unless specifically hired/contracted to include ADA Compliance which is an ongoing, not a one-time-and-done solution.
Think Different Designs has partnered with accessIbe to offers this additional service to clients.
Web accessibility remediation
According to ADA title III, every business website has to be accessible to people with disabilities, or it will be at risk of being sued and facing unnecessary legal expenses. We recommend use of our AI and machine learning web accessibility solution to solve this problem. According to our research, this is the most affordable and simple solution in the market today.
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