The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that provides comprehensive protections for people with disabilities in the areas of employment, public services, and access to state and local government programs.
Passed by Congress in 1990 and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990, the ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in all areas of life.
The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability and requires businesses to provide reasonable accommodations to employees or customers who have disabilities so they can participate equally—to the greatest extent possible—in business operations.
Web Accessibility and Title III of the ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act Title III web accessibility provision is a federal law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination on the internet. Web developers, businesses and other entities must ensure that their websites are accessible to the disabled by following Section 508 standards. The law says that websites should be accessible regardless of the technology used to access them.
Is ADA compliance mandatory for websites?
The ADA Title III provision does not require full compliance with all 508 standards. For example, web developers do not have to use the latest versions of software and hardware for their sites, as long as they meet the 508 requirements. In addition, documented hardship is grounds for ADA Title III compliance.
The following are some of the most important provisions in Section 508:
- Web applications must be accessible to people with visual, hearing and other impairments.
- The disabled should have access to all interactive elements on a website — such as videos, animations and images — according to their requirements.
- Web applications must allow alternative access using adaptive technologies that are compatible with the latest versions of browsers and platforms, including mobile devices.
- Any information displayed in a non-text format should be easily accessible by people with disabilities.
RNC Solutions follow Section 508 to ensure that their clients’ websites are accessible to the disabled. To ensure compliance, our web developers use software and hardware that is compatible with Windows 7 accessibility standards. To ensure we met ADA Title III, we also use other alternative screen readers or a non-visual browser.
Our developers believe that it is worth the effort and cost to build a website that is both accessible and attractive to the disabled and other customers.
A checklist for ADA-compliant websites
Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) really depends on compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which requires that electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision.
WCAG 2.0 is an international standard that provides success criteria for web content accessibility guidelines and related technologies for making websites accessible.
In order to be compliant, your website should provide alternative text or captions for video content such as YouTube video embeds in order to update it so it can be viewed in a noisy environment or when someone is deaf.
It should also account users who are blind or have blindness-related disabilities by providing accurate descriptions of web pages images or controls; ensuring that navigation mechanisms, such as links, are fully operable; and making sure that any video or audio has captions and relevant alternative text .
If you’re not familiar with WCAG 2.0, you can work with a web design agency to comply with it.
Possible consequences of not complying with ADA requirements
Well, if you don’t comply with ADA requirements for websites, people who are disabled will not have your website as an option.
It’s important for people trying to do business through the web that they will need to make their website accessible by anyone.
The ADA is actually pretty good of a law. But, it states that “no individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal benefits of the goods, services, facilities or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place.”
So what does this mean? Simply put… if you don’t comply with ADA requirements for websites then you’re discriminating against people with disabilities who use technologies to access your site. You could even be at risk for being sued!
Work with an agency that designs ADA-compliant websites
As a small business owner, you know how important it is to have your website up and running. But did you know that ADA compliance isn’t just for the disabled? It’s also considered good practice for any site with a large amount of text or images where navigation can be difficult.
With people using their mobile devices more often than ever before, it’s even more vital to have an accessible website in order to stay competitive.
For this reason (and many others) there are agencies that specialize in designing ADA-compliant websites specifically for small businesses like yours!
Here are some of the benefits:
- They take care of all aspects from design through development and maintenance;
- You get one point person throughout the process;
- Your site will be available to a larger audience;
- It’s affordable. Depending on the scope of the project, you could get started with a few hundred dollars instead of thousands.
Websites that are designed and developed to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will not only attract more customers, but also save you from costly fines. It’s time to partner with a team of web designers who know what it takes to make sure you’re in compliance.
You can contact RNC Solutions for ADA-compliant website design and development services.