The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is a piece of civil rights legislature that prohibits businesses from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. Most people are familiar with the physical accommodations businesses make, but the ADA applies to the digital world as well. Under this law, websites should be as accessible as any other public place a disabled individual could enter. Ensuring your website meets ADA compliance means removing technical barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing your content. Failing to meet ADA compliance for websites could result in a potential lawsuit for your company. As a result, many companies should be adding web accessibility to their list of top priorities for 2018.

Understanding the ADA and What It
Means for Websites

In many ways, the ADA was designed to supplement the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender or national origin. Everyone should have equal access to the same rights and opportunities. The same is true of the ADA, which mandates that public spaces should be equally accessible to all individuals. This means building ramps for wheelchair access, adding braille to signs, etc. The ADA guarantees that individuals with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else.

How the ADA Affects Websites and
Digital Publishers

As the Internet became more prominent in the 200s, lawmakers soon realized that persons with disabilities were facing new obstacles. The Internet was simply unwelcoming to individuals with disabilities. The more the Internet dominated public and social life, the more challenges people with disabilities faced.

The Advanced Notice of Rule-making

• These rapid changes throughout society led the Department of Justice to revisit the ADA. The DOJ issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-making in 2010.
• Effectively extending these protections for persons with disabilities to include aspects of the World Wide Web, specifically, “goods, services, facilities, privileges, accommodations, or advantages offered by public accommodations via the Internet.”

Losing potential customers

Not having an ADA complian website also means turning away a large portion of your target audience. According to the U.S. Census Bureau report from 2010, 8.1 million. Americans were considered blind or unable to see, 7.6 million Americans had difficulty hearing, and 19.9 million people had difficulty lifting or grasping objects like a pencil or a glass, which means using a touch screen, trackpad or computer mouse isn’t ideal. The Census Bureau also found that the number of Americans with disabilities increased from 2005 to 2010 by 2.2 million.

Appearing in Federal Court

1. The Upward Trend of ADA Website

This alarming trend is throwing the world into a frenzy. Website owners, major corporations, and digital publishers are uncertain of whether.

2. The Winn-Dixie Case

A recent case in Florida involving the grocery store chain Winn-Dixie highlighted some of these issues when it became the first ADA website compliance lawsuit to go to trial.

3. The Blick Art Materials Case

While the website, dickblick.com, is not officially tied to any physical store, the court sided with Andrews.

As a business owner or digital publisher, you need to be mindful of the risks of not having an ADA compliant website. With ADA website compliance lawsuits surging, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to deal with this issue. If you decide not to comply with the ADA, you’re in trouble. New legal precedents are being set all the time. So be sure to stay tuned for the latest news on ADA website compliance laws.