The Americans with Disabilities Act was made a law in 1990. It is a civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
Back then, computers didn’t rule our lives, so the law was mostly based on physical elements. That’s why we see a lot of wheelchair ramps and disabled bathroom stalls in businesses today.
But as time went on and technology developed, there came a need to make the internet ADA compliant. This included the avoidance of flashing images that may cause a seizure, subtitles on videos deaf people are not able to hear and getting rid of other features that made the web inaccessible to the disabled.
Now that designers are aware of these issues, a common question is, does my website need to be ADA compliant? This article will provide you with the information you need to know.
Is Compliance Mandatory for Websites?
At this point you may be wondering, do all websites need to be ADA compliant for a company to avoid a lawsuit?
Based on the way the ADA is written, not having an accessible website is active discrimination and it can get you sued.
The rules don’t apply to every website, but they apply to most. They apply to websites you visit every day. This includes government and business websites. These sites are considered ‘places of public accommodation”. As such, in accordance with ADA compliance, they must be accessible to all.
Are There Mandatory ADA Guidelines in Place?
Now here’s where it gets tricky.
Because the ADA was put in place in 1990, a time before computers were popularly used by the public, there is no language included in the law referring to anything other than physical spaces. It was applied virtually after the law was made with no other updates put in place.
ADA compliance was extended to the virtual world by the Department in Justice in 2008. However, the entity believes it’s not up to them to update the guidelines. That’s Congress’s job.
So without guidelines in place, it makes it difficult for people to go after businesses in a legal forum for a lack of compliance. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen quite often.
How Does the WCAG Weigh Into All This?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) play an important role in ADA compliance. WCAG documents explain how web content can be made more accessible for people with disabilities.
WCAG categorize accessibility issues into three levels as follows:
Level A: This level pertains to urgent problems that limit a disabled person’s ability to use the website.
Level AA: This level is assigned to sites with areas that can be improved to provide a disabled person with a better user experience.
Level AAA: Reaching Level AAA involves fine tuning to improve accessibility issues. It is unachievable for most websites.
Accessibility issues are further broken down by the WCAG into four groups that go by the acronym P.O.U.R. These include:
Perceivable: Perceivable issues reduce the person’s ability to find and process information on the website. An example would be videos without subtitles for the hearing impaired.
Operable: Operable issues impact the user’s ability to navigate and use the site. These can include a site that can only function via keyboard commands that are not integrated into the tools made for disabled persons.
Understandable: This pertains to issues the user may have in understanding the information on the web page and how the site operates. To comply, the web site should have readable and understandable text content, web pages that appear and operate according to the norm, and it should provide assistance so users can avoid and correct mistakes.
Robust: The site should be robust so that it can be interpreted by a variety of users including disabled individuals.
How Can I Make My Website Compliant?
While website compliance is a gray area, companies should do their best to get on the right side of law. Besides avoiding a potential lawsuit, it will give your company a more inclusive image making it a favorite for disabled and non-disabled users alike. Here are some guidelines that should be followed.
Content
The right content structure will make the information on your site easier to read and digest for all users. It may also score you some SEO points.
The content should be divided into sections with H1, H2 and H3 headings that make it easy for users to find the information they need.
Making text easy to understand will make it accessible to people with cognitive disabilities and it will make it simpler for just about anyone to digest. Avoid complicated words and use bulleted lists and bolded keywords to boost scanability.
When linking text, don’t merely write ‘click here’. Descriptive text will help users with screen readers and visual impairments tell links apart and determine where they lead.
Any files you link to, including PDF’s PowerPoints and Word documents should follow accessibility guidelines as well.
Design
A good design will also boost accessibility. When it comes to design, your site should meet the following criteria.
All videos should have subtitles, transcripts and audio descriptions. This will help hearing and vision impaired people get the information in the video.
Images should include alt text that describes the image. This will be picked up by screen readers so visually impaired people can understand what’s in the image.
Use the right colors to minimize issues for people with color blindness. The colors should be sharp enough so colorblind people can detect contrast. You should also use patterns, fills and borders, and not only color, to communicate ideas.
Fonts should be clear so they can be easily seen by people with visual impairment.
General
Here are some general tips to follow to ensure accessibility.
People with visual and motor disabilities may not use a mouse to navigate a website. Ensure your site meets their needs by offering keyboard navigation.
Forms and table labels should be included to ensure screen readers can read the name of each field. This will provide impaired users with critical information concerning the elements of the website.
CTA buttons should have an accessible name so screen readers can detect the information. It can also help boost sales overall.
Web accessibility is a gray area, but if your site is not compliant, you will make your company vulnerable to lawsuits and you may develop an unfavorable reputation with the general public. The tips in this article will help you reach your accessibility goals keeping your business on the right side of the law. How will you be updating in the near future?
About inclusve
inclusve is a web accessibility company with a mission for digital equality for everyone, including those with disabilities They do this by ensuring websites are fully accessible, so that all users can enjoy an equal experience. www.inclusve.com
