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Understanding The Risk Of Web Accessibility Lawsuits For Your Business

By Harold Obrien posted 04-26-2021 01:54 PM

  

Almost every business has an online presence today. However, not enough are paying attention to how disabled people use their website. There are over 400 million websites active on the internet as of 2020, and any of those that conduct business in the U.S. must make their website accessible to all people according to the Americans with Disabilities Act Title III. 

Why Web Accessibility? 

A website that is not ADA compliant can grow to become a source of missed opportunities and problems for businesses. It can be easy to underestimate just how massive the number of people who rely on accessibility features to make use of websites. According to the CDC, more than 61 million Americans live with one or more disabilities. That's approximately $640 billion in annual disposable income - a market segment too big to ignore. 

In recent years, small, midsize, and huge companies have faced a new reality - make your website accessible or face an accessibility lawsuit claiming that your business site is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. How can that affect your business? Read on to find out.

Risk of Non-Compliance

The consequences of neglecting the needs of disabled people and failing to comply with regulations not only include penalties and huge fines, expensive settlements but also loss of customers and failure to service a wide global audience. Neglecting accessibility leads to prejudice and proliferation of discrimination towards mentally and physically impaired individuals. 

Non-Compliance Penalties

There are severe penalties for having an inaccessible website. There are lawsuits and fines that could go as high as $75000 for first violation. Fines for subsequent violation of ADA compliance could go up to $15000 - and these are always reviewed annually and may be higher to match inflation. Then for organizations receiving government funding, their grants can be revoked if found to be ADA non-compliant. 

Website Settlement and Lawsuits

A disabled person can easily lodge a complaint against violations of the ADA to the DOJ. The Department will then investigate and file a lawsuit if necessary. A disabled person also has the right to file a lawsuit directly in the federal court against a government body or business for ADA non-compliance. 

Like the federal law, the state and local governments may have regulations and set of laws in place. This means that violators might end up paying more as a result. 

There have been many accessibility lawsuits in the last, and most resulted in out-of-court settlements. Settlement can even be as high as $5 million, and in addition to that, the company still has to make their website compliant with a time frame resulting in additional overheads with the cost of modifying existing designs and adding accessibility features according to standards. 

How to Evaluate Your Website's Accessibility

This might seem like a huge task. If you get the chill thinking about scrolling through each page of your website trying to figure out what might cause someone problems, enough to file a lawsuit, calm down and take a deep breath. Luckily, there are resources out there now to bring websites up to accessibility standards. To improve your site's WCAG 2.1 compliance and even have professionals that'll guide you along the way. Here are the basic things you need to:

Know the Basics

The WCAG 2.1 guidelines are available and filled with ways to increase your website's ADA Compliance. If you check out the guidelines, then you know that the tiny details that together contribute to an accessible site can be overwhelming at first. That's why you need to tackle the big issues first. However, once you know the problems people might face while using your website, you'll be motivated to make changes and check those tiny details off your list. There are WCAG checkers to check issues with your site. They scan your site, report minor and major accessibility issues. 

Call in an Expert

If you're lost in your accessibility testing, you might consider consulting an expert or accessibility platforms. There are web developers well versed in accessibility and know the WCAG guidelines well. If you're looking to increase accessibility by making big changes to your website, they can help you simplify the process and even suggest updates that can address bigger issues. If you want to go with an automated software, platforms like accessiBe, Level Access are considered great options.

Consider User Testing

If you're in the process of building your digital platform, user testing is an amazing way to sniff out potential issues with accessibility. It doesn't have to be too formal. Simply creating a checklist based on the WCAG guidelines can help. The goal is to make your platform accessible to users, so reach out to testers to get their thoughts.  A platform like UserTesting that can direct people to make actions and test features on your website can go a long way.

Bottom Line

There is a continuing growth to the number of lawsuits relating to ADA compliance every year. Every business, small, midsized, and large is at risk. So understanding the risks and a proactive approach is key to avoiding accessibility lawsuits, fines and penalties. 

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