Remember when you first launched your website? You probably spent endless hours picking the right domain name, choosing a custom theme to go with, and then ultimately going live with it. After that, you’ve probably spent even more endless hours working on your content creation, social media marketing, and every effort possible to grow your site.
But, what if I told you that all of that could prove to be worthless, and maybe even held against you?
It’s true, and this all falls under the guidelines and regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you aren’t familiar with the term or act, don’t worry, as you aren’t alone.
In fact, it’s now almost become a fun little side business for attorneys to search out websites and businesses that aren’t compliant–as it can be a nice and rewarding little business for them.
However, outside of the lawsuits and potential fees associated with not being ADA compliant, there is also the issue that some of your audience might not be able to use your site to its full potential — which isn’t just bad for business, it can also be seen as unethical and against governing business practice.
With all of this discussion now up in the area, I’m sure we’ve got your attention.
Before calling your programmers and web designers together for an emergency meeting to make sure your site is compliant, let’s first cover a few other frequently asked questions on the matter as well.
What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and why does it affect my site or online business?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was put into action in 1990, and is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. And if you would like to read all of the fine details about the act, you can do so here.
As a business or site owner, what you really need to know, is that the act makes it a requirement for you to have everything necessary in order to cater to the needs of all individuals that access your site or business–including those with disabilities.
Should someone visit your site and find that it wasn’t fully accessible, you could become one of the latest companies getting served for not being fully compliant. And after these lawsuits start rolling in, it’s just more bad news for your business, as they can be very costly and also jeopardize the future of your business.
In addition to the ADA act, there is also the WCAG 2.1, which also complicates the compliance process. Not only does the WCAG add more compliance issues into the mix, but it’s also been noted as ‘very confusing’ to site owners, businesses, and attorneys alike.
How can I protect my site, and become ADA compliant?
Now that you’re probably scared to death and ready to shut down your site and business forever, don’t worry… there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
When it comes to the key areas of your site that will influence ADA compliance, it will often come down to text sizes, font usage, flashing images, and the overall navigation of your site. And while it might seem like a good idea to custom change all of these settings, it will be nearly impossible to come up with the right fit that hits everyone’s needs.
So, what’s an online website or business to do?
Fortunately, there are some solutions out there that can do the dirty work for you. And not just that, they can make sure your site is compliant, while also not coming with the high associated costs of paying a coder and designer to customize your site endlessly.
As mentioned on SmallBizTrends, accessiBe is an accessibility solution that can make any website ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliant within about 48 hours. Through the use of their artificial intelligence learning platform and a handy little application that appears on your site, anyone can customize your site design and content to fit their needs.
In summary, if you want to become fully compliant and cater to the needs of ALL audiences that hit your site, you need to have a valid solution in place. Changing the colors of your site design and making your fonts bigger isn’t going to cut it. You need to become 100% compliant to keep your site and business protected.
The Future of Web Accessibility and Your Online Business
As you can imagine, this is some pretty serious stuff we are talking about here. Even Forbes is continually discussing the future of web accessibility compliance and it just continues to gain more attention day after day.
Like many others, at the beginning of the article, you were probably introduced to ADA web accessibility and its strict guidance laws for the very first time. You probably came here to learn more and how to improve user engagement and accessibility on your site… only to then find yourself in a nightmare scenario with lawsuits and complete site redesigns.
But as we pointed out in the last section of the article… There are advanced solutions and platforms out there that can help with this process. Not only will they make your site compliant, but they will also likely have the support to implement changes and adapt to any new laws or regulations that follow in the coming years.
If you are more concerned about the associated costs of using such a solution, you should be more concerned about the costs of “not” using on. The minimal costs associated with using such platforms are nothing compared to what a random ADA or WCAG 2.1 lawsuit threat would cost, which have been said to start in the $20,000+ range.
And when you look at it, having a 100% ADA compliant site means a lot more than just avoiding lawsuits and getting in trouble, it’s also about helping each and every user on your site.
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