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Making Your Site Accessible to All

An ADA compliant website is a necessity but it’s not a straightforward process. We are here to help ensure your next ADA compliant web design project a success for you and your customers.

What is ADA compliance? Why does my website need It?

ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on an individual’s disability. With over 50 million Americans currently living with a disability, the act seeks to ensure these citizens have access to “public and private places that are open to the general public.”

While in the past ADA largely focused on accessibility features in physical stores, offices and government buildings, in 2018 the act was expanded to include technology interfaces such as websites. As a result, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) is now the widely accepted standard for compliance with the ADA.

What happens if my website isn’t ADA compliant?

According to ADA.gov, if your business or organization’s website is found to be non-compliant, you could be subject to a fine of $75,000 – $150,000 each time you’re found in violation. Between 2017 and 2018, ADA compliant website lawsuits nearly tripled. According to a report by Usable Net, 21% of businesses targeted by an ADA lawsuit were sued more than once. Between government fines and lawsuits, websites that are not widely accessible to users are not only costly to your reputation, but also your bottom line.

What does an ADA Compliant website look like?

Simply put, ADA compliance is about making your site accessible to all users. So if a visited has a sight implementation, the ADA compliance for that visitor may mean adding screen readers that read the pages text for a visitor, or to accommodate a hearing impaired visitor, it may mean adding closed captioning to videos. For website owners, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) serves as the gold standard for ADA compliance.

Case Study

The client came to Enilon with a site that had to be made compliant within 2nd quarter of the year. The initial audit showed that there were over 150 ADA issues affecting multiple templates within the site causing thousands of errors.

Site Audit and Action Plan

We executed a through audit of the site and provided an extensive report for the client that listed out all ADA issues and concerns. We then provided an Implementation Roadmap which included scope and timeline for resolving all issues on the site in a very timely manner.

Ongoing Coverage

We were able to complete all the fixes listed in the ADA report on time and under budget. The result gave the client another level in confidence that they were compliant. We now provide ongoing support for the client as we continue to serve up a compliant website.

The Results

100%

ADA Compliant

0

Legal Issues

100%

Increase in Client Confidence