Web accessibility-related lawsuits are on the rise, and most corporate websites are not compliant. Getting started on your accessibility journey can be difficult, especially when trying to determine which laws apply to you. Below are four steps you can take to better understand accessibility regulations. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. This are simply lessons learned from my lived experience.
The first step in understanding web accessibility regulations is to look at Title III of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which has been interpreted by the courts to apply to websites. In a nutshell, it requires that organizations make a good faith effort to deliver their websites and content in a way that everyone, including persons with disabilities, can enjoy “full and equal” use.
But simply understanding the ADA is not enough because it does not provide explicit guidance on how to ensure that your site is compliant. For that missing piece, you’ll have to look to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). In the absence of an explicit web accessibility law, the U.S. courts and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have continually referenced WCAG as the standard to gauge whether websites are accessible.
The second step in understanding web accessibility regulations is to look at the WCAG. The WCAG was originally developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to provide basic standards that all websites, apps and electronic content should adhere to. You can find the WCAG here.
Before diving head-first into the WGAC, I do want to offer you a warning: it can be overwhelming. For one, navigating it can be exhausting. It includes 38 standards across 4 categories, multiple versions, multiple levels of compliance, and multiple success criteria. Secondly, some of the standards are difficult to understand, circuitous and can conflict with each other.
To help, here is a quick overview of what you need to know: