I know you're trying to figure out if you're legally required to make your website accessible in the U.S. UU. The first thing you need to understand about the ADA is which companies are required to comply. Under Title I of the ADA, any business with at least 15 full-time employees operating for 20 or more weeks each year is covered by law.
Web agencies must also consider the requirements of Title III of the ADA. If a client is sued for having a website that is not accessible, that client will turn to the agency that designed it. The client could insist on getting their money back; ruin that agency's reputation for not complying with legislation, or even suing the agency for creating a non-ADA compliant website. When searching for ADA floors with raised touch domes and warning surfaces, you must ensure that the supplier's products meet all current ADA regulations and specifications.
Since accessibility to the website is not directly addressed within ADA standards, state courts must decide these cases, and lawyers claim they are denied access to public information. Instead of any regulatory guidance, business owners should consult regulations governing federal agency websites and related case law to understand what compliance could be. If you want to learn more about ADA compliance standards and what is needed to comply with the ADA, read on. Based on the information shared above, it seems safe to use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as a standard for measuring ADA compliance on your website.
If you follow these guidelines to at least level AA, ADA compliance shouldn't be a problem for your company. For your website to truly be 100% ADA compliant, it may require manual corrections to every page of your website. Most ADA widgets allow visitors to your website to change font size, contrast, legibility, and make other adjustments to suit their disability. We've covered the WCAG guidelines extensively in other articles, but here's a quick summary of the basics of maintaining a WCAG and ADA compliant website.
Other parts of the ADA allow exemptions for small businesses that employ fewer than 15 people, but it's unclear if this applies to websites. Other cases have concluded that websites are subject to ADA regulations if there is a close “nexus” between the site and a physical location, the most famous example being the ruling against the supermarket chain Winn-Dixie for not making its site accessible to users with low vision. Companies that fall under Title I or Title III of the ADA are required to ensure that their website offers “reasonable accessibility for people with disabilities. While compliance with the ADA website is a little subjective now, it's not too difficult to discern what is meant by “reasonable accessibility.” Title III of the ADA requires that each owner, landlord or operator of a “place of public accommodation” provide equal access to users who meet ADA disability standards.
The Department remains committed to safeguarding accessibility for persons with disabilities, while working with covered entities to ensure compliance with the ADA is feasible and sustainable.
