Ensuring that your website is accessible to anyone just does not cut it today anymore. It is equally important to ensure that your website is ADA compliant. A website that is ADA compliant and one that is accessible only are two very different things. And this difference will have a vital impact or contribution to the business you are establishing.
The law that regulates accessibility for government entities, businesses, and more is the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA. Though the ADA does not specifically discuss about websites, the US Courts have deemed Title III from the act to be associated with website design. So, before you consider your website to be ADA compliant, you should meet a set of criteria.
Depending on the kind of website you are running, the accessibility of your website will depend on how people with disabilities can access its content and functions. In the development stage of your website, you have to consider the technical operation aspect of it all so that you are in compliance with the law. Additionally, when you keep tabs on the technical aspect of your website operations, you allow equal website access to all people despite differences in level of ability.
Making your website ADA compliant or more accessible to people with disabilities can be possible when you do certain things. At the very least, people with disabilities should have access to every content that you can offer from your website. In navigating your website, these people should do them with as few difficulties as possible so that they can take advantage of your services and the information you have for them.
You will know if your website is ADA compliant for many things. If you want to check if your website meets ADA compliance standards, you can check the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA success criteria. There are 38 requirements listed on the WCAG 2.0 success criteria. There is no need to meet all these 38 requirements for your website to be deemed accessible to people with disabilities. Nevertheless, you will find some requirements from the list that are far more valuable than others and something that you should take into account.
You will find it complicated to understand the WCAG criteria if you are not a lawyer. The establishment of WAS or Web Accessibility Standards has integrated all the crucial principles of WCAG. It is much easier to follow and more direct.
Being compliant with web accessibility regulations requires some adaptability and more room for people, businesses, establishments, and organizations. If you want to follow the standards of web accessibility, you should get in touch with an ADA compliance lawyer.
Even if you know that you have to make an effort to ensure an accessible website, you can’t just use one method to do so. If you want to begin, look into WAS than WCAG because it helps you know if you are compliant or not.