Is Your Website ADA Compliant?

You don’t want to find out your site isn’t ADA compliant when it’s too late. Explore your website needs and how to be compliant with JJ Web Services. We’ll give you some background information, what happens when you’re not ADA compliant, and how to make sure your website is indeed following the federal guidelines for ADA compliance.

What is ADA?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush.

The ADA prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else. This can include employment opportunities, the option to purchase any particular goods or services, and the ability to participate in government programs. 

The ADA was modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also draws from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

What Happens if I’m not ADA Compliant? 

According to Bigdropinc.com:

“You could face a lawsuit if a person with a disability claims they cannot access your website. You might endure legal fees, a possible settlement, a potential public relations problem, and the cost of rebuilding your website so that it complies with the ADA.”

There are currently no laws saying that you, the website holder, have to have an ADA-compliant site.  However, the way society is progressing and with the rise in e-commerce, there are going to be more changes and regulations forthcoming. It’s always better to be prepared!

Aside from facing a legal suit, there’s also the potential of losing clientele. ADA isn’t just a list of laws and guidelines you have to follow. It’s a set of bylines to help potential clients reach you. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, nearly 10,000,000 persons are hard of hearing, and close to 1,000,000 are functionally deaf. In addition, 12 million people 40 years and over in the United States have vision impairment. This includes 1 million who are blind, 3 million who have vision impairment after correction, and 8 million who have vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors.

It’s fair to make the assumption that by updating your website you’ll not only make yourself more accessible and ADA compliant, but you’ll also increase your possible customer base. It’s truly a win-win for everyone. And it’s not difficult! Let’s take a look at what steps you might need to take.

Steps to Making your Site ADA Compliant:

• All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose.

• Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.

• An alternative for time-based media or audio descriptions of the prerecorded video content is provided.

• Audio descriptions are provided for all prerecorded video content.

• Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through your site’s presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text.

• Color is not used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.

• If there is any audio on a web page that plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, make sure you have either a mechanism to pause or stop the audio. Another option is to create a mechanism that is available to control audio volume independently from the overall system volume level.

There are more pieces here, but these are a few basic steps you can start to implement and that will have a huge impact on your ADA compliance.

Let’s Sum it Up:

There are no laws stating that your website has to be ADA compliant unless it affects the basic principles of the law. Therefore, your site MUST be ADA compliant if you post employment opportunities or sell goods and services.

There are a lot of basic steps to help you create a more accessible site. When you do this, you’re not only helping your business in case of future legalities, but you’re also helping your potential clients.

Bottom line:  in the future, we are all probably going to have to make our sites more ADA compliant so you might as well start now. Especially if you are a hiring service, sell services, or have any type of e-commerce.

Feeling Lost?

JJ Web Services is here to help with ADA Compliance!

Call or Text  715-255-0449‬ to book your consultation today.