ADA Website Compliance
Accessibility is the law. 20% of all global internet users have some type of disability which excludes them from 97% of all websites. Don’t leave yourself wide open like DOMINO’S PIZZA did when they lost their appeal case after the Supreme Court kicked the case back down to the 9th circuit and the blind Mr. Guillermo Robles scored a victory for people with disabilities. On 10.7.19, the 9 Justices ruled that people with disabilities can now SUE retailers. Read here.
Title III Sample Cases
Rite Aid Corporation: The Department reached an agreement with Rite Aid Corporation to address accessibility barriers in Rite Aid’s COVID-19 Vaccine Registration Portal.
Teachers Test Prep, Inc.: The Department reached an agreement with Teachers Test Prep, Inc., regarding complaints that the test prep company’s online video courses did not provide captions and were inaccessible to people who are deaf.
HRB Digital and HRB Tax Group (H&R Block): The Department reached an agreement with H&R Block to address claims that the company failed to code its website so that individuals with disabilities could use assistive technology such as screen reader software, refreshable Braille displays, keyboard navigation, and captioning.
Peapod: The Department reached an agreement with Peapod to address claims that its online grocery delivery services were not accessible to some individuals with disabilities.
By DAVID G. SAVAGE STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTONThe Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for blind people to sue Domino’s Pizza and other retailers if their websites are not accessible.
In a potentially far-reaching move, the justices turned down an appeal from Domino’s and let stand a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling holding that the Americans With Disabilities Act protects access not just to restaurants and stores but also to the websites and apps of those businesses.
McCartney AI offers a compliance solution in 10 languages, AND a Certificate of Compliance (click to view PDF) for your website at a very affordable price.
The Current Tech. “Fixes” Available
Wordpress offers free “plugins” but they don’t handle many requirements including ALT text on images, which is read aloud to blind users with screen readers, thus they do nothing to mitigate lawsuits. These plugins are not all Title III or Section 508 compliant, and involve time-consuming manual work and re-coding/updating every time Wordpress pushes an automatic update. You get what you pay for.
Manual solutions are crazy expensive and involve hours and hours of coders physically typing a description of every single image on your site, working with text sizing options, installing language options and more nuanced java script and CSS into your HTML code. And this process must be repeated every time you make an update. That’s something you definitely do NOT want to pay for. See if your website is compliant >>click here.
The Solution
McCartney AI uses machine learning and java script to manage all aspects of your site’s content, including all of the compliances below, including the pesky image screen reader text, we auto manage updates you make, and we even provide a certificate of compliance for the following protocols all for one yearly price, starting at $129/month (paid annually) for sites under 1000 pages. Click the purple wheelchair on the left of this page to see it in action. We also have enterprise solutions available. Contact us today for a free, no obligation assessment of your site.
“Powered by McCartney” Client Case Studies
Click each image to visit and test the site
Our Compliance Coverage
The ADA is a strict liability law which means there are no excuses/defenses for violations (e.g. ignorance, web developer is working on it, etc.)
Quick Overview:
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is being interpreted to include websites as “places of public accommodation”
Websites with significant inaccessible components can be seen as discriminatory against persons with disabilities, in violation of Title III of the ADA
No current legal prescription exists for web accessibility for private entities in the U.S. but WCAG 2.0 AA is frequently referenced by courts
Multiple authoritative sources state that you have flexibility in how you approach accessibility
Plaintiff’s lawyers are filing ADA lawsuits as fast as they can
There are no 100% automatic or instant solutions (e.g. toolbars, widgets, plugins) for website accessibility — caveat emptor. U.S. courts and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have continually referenced the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA success criteria as the standard to gauge whether websites are accessible. The WCAG 2.0 AA success criteria are comprised of 39 requirements, individually referred to as success criterion. Click here for more details.
Here are four of 39 critical items that must be addressed:
Making your website fully usable by keyboard only (you can unplug the mouse and still fully use the website)
Coding in labels for form fields (you program your forms so that the field labels such as “first name” are read by screen readers)
Using descriptive anchor text for links (you write links so that someone can tell what the linked page is about — not “click here” or “learn more” but “donate to the XYZ dog rescue” or “specs on the new iPhone 11 Pro Max”)
Using descriptive text for images including any text on the image, captions etc that can be read by screen readers such as JAWs
See if your website complies - use the free checklist here.
Lawsuits and Bad PR in The Headlines
ADA website compliance lawsuits are being filed like crazy right now. 2018 was a record year for number of lawsuits filed, and 2019 is going to smash that record. Don’t run the risk or expose your non-compliant site to higher E&O insurance premiums. Contact us today
Demand Letter Stats. 6/2019