Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) provides persons with disabilities protections for equal access to websites and mobile applications. The ADA requires that “public accommodations,” including private company websites and web-based applications, provide equal access to information, functionality, and content.

Common barriers include poor color contrast., use of color alone to provide information, lack of Alt Tags on images, no captions on videos, inaccessible online forms, and mouse only navigation. Digital assets should allow for the use of assistive technologies to access the content and functionality of the site. In addition, they should be navigable and usable by users with disabilities and must provide alternatives for any content or functionality that is not accessible.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) provide standards to demonstrate reasonable accommodations. WCAG has three (3) conformance level standards, level AA compliance (the second highest level) is the goal for acceptable compliance.

For the Last few years, The Beckage Firm team members, including web developers and former web design business owners, have defended countless allegations of website/app inaccessibility. And related punitive class actions. Our experience is that the plaintiffs’ bar is aggressive and large, and organizations of all sizes (even small Mom and Pop shops working out of their home) have been subject to federal lawsuits. No business is immune, and the potential damages, fees, and penalties are significant.

The law provides plaintiffs with the possible award of attorney’s fees, which is one reason there has been a significant uptick in ADA website accessibility claim lawsuits across the country. Many of the current “tools” or alleged “quick fixes” to websites to make them ADA compliant are not sufficient, leaving organizations to think that they are protected, but they are not.

The Beckage Firm includes lawyers who are also technologists, web designers, app developers, security and privacy technologists and professionals, and owners of web design companies – so our experience in this space is unparalleled. We provide a variety of legal, practical, and technical services to help website owners comply with accessibility regulations and laws.