woman using ADA compliance to access website

Attorneys are Searching The Internet For Websites That Don’t Comply With The ADA Requirements. Don’t Be The One That Gets Hit With A lawsuit.

ADA Compliance – It’s A Must!

Courts have now ruled that websites are considered places of public accommodation, under Title III of the ADA, accessibility is mandatory for websites.

If your website does not comply with ADA requirements you may be the subject of a lawsuit.

If someone comes across your site and discovers that it does not comply with ADA requirements, they have the option of hiring a law firm to threaten you with a law suit or to settle out of court.

It’s important to understand that plaintiffs’ law firms are the ones calling the shots because they’re the ones deciding who to send demand letters to.

Since you’re highly unlikely to get into a legal battle with clients or want to pay a suitcase full of money to settle out of court, the wise solution is if you have a website, it’s best to make it accessible.

The more commercial your website is, the more you become a target for those that hunt for websites to sue.

Attorneys are eager to take this type of case since they are an automatic win. They will come at you with an army of attorneys and, since your liability has already been determined by images of your site that do not comply with ADA the only thing that needs to be determined is how much you will pay.

attorneys suing for ADA compliance to access website

Attorneys are eager to take this type of case since they are an automatic win. They will come at you with an army of attorneys and, since your liability has already been determined by images of your site that do not comply with ADA the only thing that needs to be determined is how much you will pay.

attorneys suing for ADA compliance to access website

Your competitors may also attack you using the ADA requirements to try to drive you out of business.

We advise you to contact your website builder at once to correct your site before you get sued.

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If your website is connected to a physical location your chances of having issues with ADA requirements are that much greater.

A website selling products or services or if financial transactions are taking place, then your chances of having ADA issues increase again.

The problem is that there is no definitive web accessibility law for private entities in the United States.Instead, the legal standard is just what feels right based on the spirit of the ADA.

If your website is connected to a physical location your chances of having issues with ADA requirements are that much greater.

A website selling products or services or if financial transactions are taking place, then your chances of having ADA issues increase again.

The problem is that there is no definitive web accessibility law for private entities in the United States.Instead, the legal standard is just what feels right based on the spirit of the ADA.

attorney checking for ADA compliance width=

Plaintiffs’ law firms are patching together claims of disability discrimination that appear legitimate at first glance but are usually just money grabs.

Since the law is being made up as we go the wisest thing to do is to make your site ADA compliant.

There are several tests you can perform on your own on a site to test ADA compliance.

The first is https://wave.webaim.org/, it is an honest appraisal of your site’s ADA compliance. It was developed by Utah State University. Go to this site and add your URL and it will grade your site. The grade will list errors, poor contrast and other areas where your site needs improvement. Don’t forget to check every page of your site.

The second test is to go to the home page of your site and click on the URL in the browser window. Then using only the tab key, not the mouse, try to navigate your site. You should be able to access every area of your site, images, text, links and headers. As you access each portion of the page, the area accessed should be outlined with a bold line to help people with limited vision know what area of the page they are on.

Another test is to look for a handicapped icon, as you can see in the upper right of this site. This icon, when clicked on, will open up into a series of links that will enable someone that is visually imparred to edit the site to enlarge text, improve contrast, etc., to see the site better.

Your site must pass all three of the above tests to be ADA compliant and avoid a lawsuit.