On March 18, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published Guidance on Web Accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to assist state and local governments (entities covered by ADA Title II) and businesses open to the public (entities covered by ADA Title III) in ensuring their websites are accessible to people with disabilities, as required by the ADA.
The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. For a website to be compliant with the ADA, it must be accessible to people with disabilities, some of whom browse the web using assistive technology, like screen readers. If your website is not accessible to people with disabilities, it’s not compliant with the law.
In this post, we will sift through each section of the Guidance to help you better understand the importance of web accessibility, barriers that inaccessible websites can create for people with disabilities, when the ADA requires web content to be accessible, and tips on making web content accessible.
The Importance of Web Accessibility
The Internet is central to daily life. Millions attend school, shop, bank, work, perform civic duties, enroll or maintain benefits and programs, enjoy hobbies, and find entertainment online every day. It is critical that digital content like web pages, electronic documents, kiosks, and apps are accessible to people with disabilities. Digital content is considered accessible when it can be perceived, operated, and understood by all users, including people who require support for their chosen assistive technology. When their needs are not directly addressed, it can be disorienting, frustrating, and time-consuming, thereby denying them access.
Assistive technology is a broad term that encompasses assistance, such as a screen reader which translates text to speech, eye tracking which allows those with paralysis to use an on screen keyboard, magnification and voice input settings, touch gestures, even hardware like braille keyboards, and switch inputs.
Examples of accessibility barriers
- Poor color contrast – People with low vision, color blindness cannot read text if there is not enough difference between background color and the text. There are online color contrast checkers for testing your site’s color scheme.
- Use of color alone to give information – People who cannot distinguish certain colors and screen reader users will not be able to perceive color-only information, like using red labels on form fields that have errors. Instead, use another means to share information for which the color is used, like bold text or graphics with labels.
- Lack of text alternatives for images (and buttons) – It is critical for blind users that a text description of the content of images be included when important information is conveyed in them or when they are used as links. For the same reasons, buttons must always include a label, not just symbols.
- No captions on videos – Users with auditory disabilities cannot consume video content without captions. Captions are also valuable to people in extremely loud or quiet environments.
- Inaccessible forms – Data collection using forms is a key function of most websites and apps. Use of standard field types, adding labels with clear instructions, and error prevention and recovery messages make forms easier for all users.
- Mouse-only navigation/lack of keyboard navigation – Use of custom controls, like popups, carousels, navigation menus, and autocomplete fields are complex to code and require full keyboard support. Without it, people who cannot use a mouse or trackpad have no access.
How to make web content accessible to people with disabilities
The Justice Department does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards for the web, but the new guidance is meant to clarify the expectations for businesses and state and local governments. The way the law is written, businesses can choose how to ensure their content is accessible to people with disabilities, but it is clear they must comply.
The DOJ points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a de facto international standard and the Section 508 Standards, which the US federal government uses for its own websites.
What does this mean to you?
Here are a few takeaways and what they mean for businesses in the United States.
- Web accessibility is clearly a requirement under the ADA. Title III of the ADA requires any business that’s “open to the public” to make their online content and services accessible to people who rely on assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to navigate the internet.
- While the statement doesn’t provide a new legal standard, it points to WCAG and Section 508 Standards for technical guidance.
- Web accessibility is a priority. Recent settlements listed in the guidance show the DOJ’s commitment to ensuring businesses make their web content accessible to people with disabilities.
More than anything, the DOJ guidance reminds us that under the law, in our increasingly digital world, access to online content and properties is no different from access to a physical location.
If you haven’t taken any action on your site’s accessibility, or feel unsure whether your efforts are enough, here are some resources to help you figure it out.
Resources
