Is Your Website ADA & WCAG Compliant? Are you protected from Lawsuits?
Here is a quick summary of why your business website must be in compliance and why more and more small businesses are being sued for tens of thousands of dollars because their Websites are not ADA & WCAG Compliant.
Just about every business has an online presence these days, however, most are not paying close enough attention to how people with disabilities can or cannot use their website.
What is WCAG & what is ADA?
As of 2020, there are more than 400 million active Websites online. All of those websites are required to provide equal accessibility to all people according to the International Website Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and in the United States following III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
To be compliant, all sites must be free of barriers that would make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to make use of them. An inaccessible website can turn into a major source of problems for your business and a major Lawsuit.
Also, here are actual News Reports by CNN, Fox News & NBC News on how Small Business Owners are being sued left and right for tens of thousands of dollars – every single day – because their websites are not compliant.
A lack of accessibility compliance can lead to all sorts of other problems for your business. For example, your business can’t reach potential customers if those potential prospects can’t use your website because of accessibility issues. It’s easy to underestimate the magnitude of people who rely on accessibility features to access websites.
Approximately 60 million people live with a disability, According to the Centers for Disease Control. This group has an estimated $645 billion in annual disposable income.
This market shouldn’t be ignored.
Businesses including Home Depot, Sears, Brooks Brothers and Footlocker , have been successfully sued in federal court and forced to pay expensive settlements because their websites were not accessible to people with disabilities.
Now these law-firms are going after Small Business Owners.
What Are Some of the Main Issues Which Make Websites Inaccessible?
WCAG recommends 3 different levels from beginner to advanced.
To be compliant at the beginner level (recommended), your website must:
– Use clear and helpful page titles
– Provide user controls for moving content
– Present items in a logical order
– Not use presentation that relies solely on color
– Provide an alternative to video-only and audio-only content
– Provide captions for all videos which include audio
– Use more than one sense for all instructions
– Make all functionality accessible by keyboard only
– Ensure users have control over time limits
– Provide text alternatives for non-text content
– Provide a “skip to content” lin
– Make the purpose of every link clear from its context
– Ensure page elements do not change when they receive focus on input
