Meeting ADA (Americans with disabilities act) website compliance standards will help you achieve full accessibility. The importance of web accessibility is huge. There are many businesses, though, that don’t realize that these standards exist, and they need to meet them in order to escape from lawsuits, fines and bad reputation among users.
These lawsuits occur if your website is inaccessible for disabled users to access. Legal cases have increased rapidly in the last few years because more and more businesses are going online.
In order to avoid this, you should make sure your website is accessible. Start with fixing common issues like poor contrast, missing alt text, and hard-to-use forms. Regular updates will also help you stay compliant and improve user experience.
If you need assistance with ADA compliance and want to minimize the risks from website compliance lawsuits check out Qualibooth – your premier web accessibility software solution.
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What is ADA Website Compliance?
Passed in 1990, ADA is the current law in the United States which makes sure that people with disabilities are included in everyday life. It also features standards for websites online.
Being ADA-compliant means that your website meets the accessibility standards. These standards help you to give your users equal access to your content. Inclusivity is the thing all these rules and regulations aim for. The other thing that happens when you achieve full compliance is that you will no longer be stressed by legal issues.
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Being ADA-compliant also improves your SEO. When your web space is accessible, you rank higher in the search engines, which will help you gain more users and will improve your visibility.
If you don’t know what to do or where to start, the Qualibooth platform will help you with everything that regards the accessibility of your online space. With Qualibooth’s help, you will find solutions to all of your accessibility issues in one place.
Consequences of Non-Compliance
You should keep in mind that if your website isn’t ADA-compliant, your company is at risk of facing serious legal problems. It is always better to take the necessary measures to avoid problems before they happen. Especially in this case, when legal issues can damage your business and your budget.
Here’s a list of potential lawsuits and fines:
- ADA Lawsuits – People with disabilities can sue your company if they experience issues while using your website. These lawsuits are happening more often as online accessibility is gaining popularity.
- Class-action lawsuits – There are cases in which multiple people can join a class-action lawsuit against you if you have denied their rights to access your content or service by not making your service accessible to everyone.
- Fines from the Department of Justice (DOJ) – The DOJ enforces the ADA and can impose fines on your business if they find out that it fails to comply with accessibility requirements.
- Settlements – A lot of businesses settle these lawsuits to avoid long legal battles. Settlements help to avoid the lawsuit but are still very expensive and you can avoid them just by regularly monitoring your accessibility with Qualibooth.
If you have accessibility issues in your online space, you will inevitably lose users, fail to reach a wider audience and damage your business reputation. Especially if your business is still small or you are just getting started, a lawsuit can be fatal to your company.
How to Avoid a Website Compliance Lawsuit?
Now you understand why you should avoid website compliance lawsuits at all costs. The good news is that it is really simple to follow the rules. When you understand what accessibility means and you take proactive steps towards it, your company will be safe, and your users will be happy.
Here are some steps that will help you avoid a website compliance lawsuit:
- Regularly make an accessibility audit – You must create a habit of checking your website for accessibility issues. Monitoring your website with Qualibooth will guarantee you full compliance.
- Follow WCAG guidelines – As a website owner or creator, you need to read and understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to get a clearer view of what is important for accessibility and how to achieve it. ADA follows WCAG, because it’s considered the golden rule for online accessibility.
- Include Accessibility features – There are accessibility features that are a must-have when you want an accessible website. These features will ensure that all of your users, regardless of their ability, can access and use your website without any issues or barriers.
- Educate your team – Educate your team on accessibility’s best practices. This way, you will ensure that everyone involved in creating and maintaining your website is aware of the importance of compliance.
- Get feedback – Encourage feedback from users with disabilities to identify any issues or barriers they may face on your website.
When you prioritize accessibility, you protect your business and also demonstrate commitment to customer satisfaction. That will have a huge impact on your brand’s popularity and will bring you more and more users over time.
Conclusion
Being ADA compliant is important, not just to avoid holes in your budget and legal accusations. Equal access is something that we should all aim for as humans. To deny someone access to your online content or service because he is disabled is as bad as it is to deny it physically in person for the same reason.
The accessibility laws and lawsuits are gaining popularity and creating an accessible online space that can be used by everybody is becoming more and more crucial. It is a lot easier to comply with the ADA website compliance laws and create inclusivity on your website than to pay a lot of money and damage your reputation for not doing so.
