Maintaining an ADA-compliant website will always help you be protected against fines and lawsuits and accommodate your potential customers. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are associated with the accommodation your business can make with people with disabilities. The accommodation will include the use of braille, accessing wheelchairs.
Additionally, ADA also requires businesses to ensure the web content is accessible to everyone. There is no exact ADA regulation for how a website looks, but businesses are required to develop websites that people with disabilities can access.
What is ADA compliance?
The ADA was passed in 1990 prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. It seeks to see that these people have the same rights and opportunities as those with no disabilities. The act tends to cover all sectors from public to private sectors, jobs, and transportations.
The U.S. Department of justice in 2010 passed the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design. It mandates all information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities.
Types of Impairments
The types of impairments include the following:
Visual Impairment
It ranges from mild vision loss to total blindness. Victims rely on braille readers, high contrast modes, and zooming pages to navigate the website. The challenges they face include videos and images that have no text alternatives.
Auditory Impairment
It includes any deafness or hearing loss. The victims may have a good vision, but videos and audio will be complex for them to hear. They use transcripts, media players with a caption to be able to use the web. The challenges they face include not being able to get captions and also illegible texts.
Cognitive Impairment
It involves behavioral, mental, and neurological disorders that affect how one interacts with the environment. Victims rely on consistent labeling forms, text-to-speech software, and simple navigation titles. The challenges include complex navigational structures.
Physical Impairment
It ranges from carpal tunnel and arthritis to missing limbs. Victims will always use unique technology when surfing the net. The common challenges include sites with no full keyboard support.
Speech Impairment
It involves having difficulties in expressing yourself using speech. You should include email as a point of contact on the website to communicate with these people.
Which businesses are required to comply with the ADA?
According to AudioEye, under Title, I of the ADA, businesses with at least 15 employees and operates for 20 and more weeks yearly are included in the law. Under Title III, those businesses in public accommodation, hotels, transportation, and banks, will also apply. You can use the ADA compliance website checker to know if your business falls under ADA compliance.
Tips for Website Design and Development
The following are some of the tips that you can use in designing and developing your website and ensuring it meets ADA compliance.
- making your site to be accessible using a keyboard
- using headings correctly
- using Alt texts and making them short and accurate
- using legible texts and pages with clear contrast
- logical order of information
- using descriptive links and button texts
- avoiding hover only designs
Common Way to Address Accessibility Issues Associated with Web Content
The common ways you can use to ensure that your website is accessible includes:
- Using alt tags for images
- Using high contrast of color
- Using informative calls-to-action like “Call for a quote”
Conclusively, an ADA complaint website should always be accessible to anyone who visits it. It will ensure that there is overall health where the website will attract consumers and retain them.
