ADA Website Compliance

The first website appeared on the internet on August 6th, 1991, a little more than a year after George H. W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act into law. Only 11 days after the DOJ published Title II and Title III regulations for governments and private entities that served the public.

Obviously, the ADA did not address website accessibility.

The ADA was a much-needed, well-intentioned response to 30 years of activism on behalf of the disabled. Anyone with an ounce of compassion can appreciate that everyone should have ample access to sidewalks, buildings, facilities, goods, and services.

Unfortunately, good intentions are often followed by unexpected consequences.

DOJ Ineptitude

The DOJ had established website accessibility standards for state and local governments in 2003 but left non-governmental entities in the dark.

A 2006 class-action lawsuit against Target ended with a federal court ruling that the requirements of the ADA do apply to websites.

The Justice Department’s inability/refusal to honor their 2010 promise to provide clear ADA website accessibility compliance guidelines for private entities has opened the door to a new cottage industry. An industry with much appeal to the ambulance-chasers of the legal profession.

To the tune of 2200+ ADA website lawsuits filed in 2018, nearly triple the 800+ filed in 2017.

And it’s important to note that in the context of the ADA, “disability” is a legal term, not a medical term. You don’t technically have to have a disability to sue under the ADA.

What’s the Answer?

I spent many hours trying to decipher the many technical refinements required to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the “industry standard” for ADA online compliance.

I gave up.

The requirements are mind-bogglingly complicated for even the moderately tech-savvy, and even if you somehow got your site 100% compliant, you’re probably not done. Because accessibility is a process, not a project. Any changes to your site now require another evaluation for compliance.

So far I have found that any true solution is not affordable for the great majority of website owners. I gave one a try for a while. It was almost $50 monthly for one website, up to 1500 pages. But I have many websites, totaling well under 1500 pages, and I would have to pay monthly for each of them.

Not one of my websites is earning even $50 monthly.

So I found another solution. It’s probably not perfect, but it’s very good. You can see the extent of compliance by clicking on the accessibility icon in the bottom right corner of any page of this website.

I don’t think any intelligent lawyer would sue me under the ADA when roughly 98% of all websites do nothing to comply and are low-hanging fruit, while I am obviously making a serious effort.

For a limited time I will make this solution available at no charge to anyone who purchases a very affordable website or domain name from me.

If you are interested, use the contact page to ask for details.