Website ADA Compliance Services
What is Website ADA Compliance Services?
The American Disabilities Act [ADA] was approved by the US Congress in 1990 to provide rules and guidelines for businesses to accommodate and make it easier and safer for clients with physical, visual, hearing, mobility, or other disabilities to interact, visit and enjoy our products and services. Common examples include wheelchair access, ramps, rails, handicapped parking, braille signs, audible cross-walk signals, etc.
Website ADA Compliance Services
We are happy to be able to offer ADA website compliance services and software to business owners with websites. The fact is, that any business with a website should have this functionality. This allows us all to not only be compliant legally, but to make our websites more accessible, visible, easier to navigate and understand, allow for text to be audible, and more. This gives us all a warm feeling in our collective hearts and we know we’re doing the right thing.
Click here for an article from a happy client using our web ADA compliance software.
Unfortunately, there are also unscrupulous lawyers taking advantage of these laws for personal financial gain. It is important to protect ourselves from unethical legal attacks. Courts are ruling in favor of plaintiffs, and rightfully so. Sometimes business owners settle out of court and have to pay thousands of dollars.
Lawsuits with big companies with an online presence have been filed for lack of alt-tags, accessible drop-down menus, keyboard access, screen reading software, auditory translators, text for videos, etc. Some of these plaintiffs include Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, Nike, and many more. These are great companies with strong ethics and values, most likely targeted for financial reward. We are not familiar with all the details of these cases but wanted to give some examples that we can all relate to. Smaller businesses will most likely be next, and we will want to be ahead of the game with our website ADA compliance.
Any business with a website is vulnerable.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG] were added to the ADA in June of 2018 – version 2.1. These standards can be highly technical and not easy to understand. It’s important to work with an expert who is familiar with the technology, available software and functions as well as policy guidelines so everything is set up properly.
Did you know that about 20 percent or one in five people have some sort of disability?
That is why we recommend and serve our clients by making it easier for those with disabilities to find and access the valuable and helpful information on your website to help them as our cherished clients. It is the right thing to do and reduces your risk of legal liability at the same time – double bonus!
How to Make Your Website ADA Compliant?
The most common fixes with websites will be for visually impaired (including senior citizens) site visitors.
You can add:
- alt meta tags to your images
- complete written descriptions or transcriptions of your videos
- magnifying function
- text to audible screen reading function
- background-color change or black-and-white function
- headline highlighting
- link highlighting
This is a good start. You will also want to have an ADA compliance policy. Even if all issues aren’t being addressed currently, it is a good idea to record that you are aware of the issue and working on achieving full compliance. Be sure to keep this document up to date. Click here for an example.
What if You Want Help With Your Website Online ADA Compliance?
Simply contact us and we will set up an appointment to help you.