Website Accessibility
and ADA Compliance

As the world becomes increasingly digital, it’s more important than ever to ensure that everyone has equal access to online resources. That’s where website accessibility and ADA compliance come in. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to provide equal access to goods and services, including those provided online. This means that websites must be accessible to people with disabilities, such as those who are blind or have limited mobility.

In order to achieve this accessibility, businesses need to implement certain design and coding features that make it possible for assistive technologies to navigate and interpret their websites. We have partnered with AccessiBe, the leading accessibility solutions provider, to bring you their AI-powered website plugin that will help you achieve ADA compliance at a fraction of the cost, and time, of hiring a team of developers.

Not only will an ADA compliant website reduce your risk of costly legal action, it also makes good brand sense. By ensuring that your website is accessible, you open your business up to a wider customer base and improve your overall online presence.

Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a larger organization, website accessibility and ADA compliance must be a top priority.

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Inclusion and Accessibility Legislation

It is important to ensure that your website is accessible to all individuals, regardless of their abilities. That is to ensure that all content is perceivable, operable, and understandable to everyone. By making a website accessible, businesses can be certain that people with disabilities are not excluded from accessing their products, services, or information online.

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has advised that websites are places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA and website owners must follow recognized guidelines to make them accessible. This is called “ADA Compliance”.

The DOJ has endorsed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the standard for website accessibility. This provides us with a comprehensive list of design, structure, and function accommodations that must be implemented to make a website accessible. This can include things like providing alternative text for images, ensuring that website navigation can be accessed with a keyboard, and providing closed captions for videos.

Click here to read the DOJ’s position on website accessibility.

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Achieving website compliance as required by the ADA, WCAG, and Section 508.

ADA Compliance Lawsuits
Assessing Your Risk

All businesses, both large and small, are at risk for a website ADA compliance lawsuit. This includes businesses in all industries, such as hospitality, retail, healthcare, and finance. Any business that operates a website must ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities, such as vision or hearing impairments. Failure to do so could result in legal action being taken against the business by individuals or advocacy groups who feel they have been discriminated against.

It’s important for businesses to take website accessibility seriously and make necessary changes to their websites to avoid costly and time-consuming legal battles.

High Risk Markets

The following commercial markets are currently seeing the biggest increase in demand letters and lawsuits issued for website ADA Compliance violations. No industry is immune but if your business operates in one of these categories, you may wish to address compliance issues with some urgency.

  • Restaurants and hospitality
  • Real estate
  • ecommerce
  • Healthcare
  • Finance
  • Automotive
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Real accessibility issues
many reasons to accessifi

Disabled female watching an instructional video on her laptop.

Common website accessibilty issues

Here are just a few examples of the types of issues that individuals with disabilities may experience when using websites that are not ADA compliant. By making a website accessible, businesses can ensure that individuals with disabilities can access and use their services and content without barriers.

  1. Lack of alternative text (alt text) for images: Individuals who are blind or visually impaired use screen readers to access website content. If an image on the website does not have alt text, the screen reader will not be able to read it, leaving the user without important information.
  2. Insufficient color contrast: Individuals with visual impairments, such as color blindness, may have difficulty distinguishing between text and background colors if there is insufficient color contrast. This can make it difficult or impossible for them to read the content.
  3. Inaccessible navigation: Individuals with mobility impairments may have difficulty navigating a website that does not have clear and accessible navigation menus. This can make it difficult for them to find the information they need on the website.
  4. Inaccessible forms: Individuals who are blind or have motor disabilities may have difficulty completing online forms if they are not designed with accessibility in mind. For example, forms that require the use of a mouse or that do not have clear instructions may be difficult to use for individuals with motor disabilities.
  5. Lack of captions or transcripts for videos: Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may not be able to access video content that does not have captions or transcripts.*
  6. Inaccessible PDFs and other documents: Individuals with disabilities may have difficulty accessing PDFs and other documents on a website if they are not designed with accessibility in mind. For example, documents that are not tagged properly may not be accessible to individuals who use screen readers.*

* The accessWidget is designed to remediate website pages that are rendered in the browser in HTML. Remediation of media files (video, audio) and documents such as PDF files, is beyond the scope of the accessWidget. We provide an additional service to make these files accessible. Contact us to discuss your media and document project.

Young man with Down Syndrome working on their laptop.

Reasons to be ada compliant

There are many reasons to make your website ADA/WCAG compliant. Making your website accessible is not only a legal requirement, but also an ethical and moral responsibility that can improve user experience, increase reach, and provide a competitive advantage.

  1. Ethical and moral responsibility: It is important to ensure that your website is accessible to all individuals, regardless of their abilities. By making your website accessible, you are showing your commitment to inclusivity, diversity, and disabled rights.
  2. Legal compliance: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make their websites accessible to individuals with disabilities. Failure to comply with the ADA can result in legal action and costly lawsuits.
  3. Improved user experience: An accessible website can improve the user experience for all visitors, not just those with disabilities. An accessible website is easier to navigate and use, and can help to increase user engagement and satisfaction.
  4. Increased reach: By making your website accessible, you are expanding your potential audience to include people with disabilities, who may have been excluded from your website in the past. This can help to increase your reach and improve your business’s reputation.
  5. Competitive advantage: By having an accessible website, you may have a competitive advantage over other businesses that do not have accessible websites. People with disabilities may choose to do business with companies that are more inclusive and accessible, which can help to distinguish your business from competitors.
  6. Better SEO: ADA compliance often involves optimizing website elements, such as text descriptions for images and video transcripts, which can also improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). An overlay widget like accessWidget is more likely to have an indirect SEO benefit by improving user engagement, increasing time spent on your site, reducing bounce rates, and other user behavior metrics. This can lead to better visibility on search engines and increased organic traffic.
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Accessifi LLC

Terms of Service

Accessifi Terms of Service

Last updated: May 22, 2023

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a legally binding agreement between you and Accessifi LLC (“our”, “we”, “us”, or “Accessifi”).

By accessing or using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to be bound by the provisions of these Terms or if you do not have the legal authority to accept them on behalf of the entity you represent, you may not use or access our services.

These Terms apply to all users of the Services, as follows (each of which shall be referred to as “user” or “you”):

  • “Client”: any individual or entity that uses accessScan, purchases a license from Accessifi to use the accessiBe accessWidget or access or use any other Services from us.

 

SERVICES

Accessifi LLC is delivering, in good faith, access to services provided by AccessiBe via a partner relationship we have with AccessiBe.

The partnership agreement entitles us to make limited discounts to the price you pay to license the AccessiBe accessWidget, when ordering directly though us. Discounts are calculated by a percentage reduction to AccessiBe’s retail price which is wholly controlled by AccessiBe. AccessiBe have the sole right to update their retail pricing and licensing terms, over which we have absolutely no control. Your price will be fixed for term period of your license. It is possible that accessiBe could adjust the pricing at the time of your license renewal. It is entirely out of our realm of influence. AccessiBe may also change our pricing flexibility in the future, which may affect the offer we can present to you.

AccessiBe have sole control over the design, functionality, code, and availability of the accessWidget. Accessifi cannot be held responsible for any actions taken by AccessiBe that may impact the accessWidget in any way.

Accessifi offer an accessWidget installation service for those who request our assistance with the accessWidget installation. We are experienced developers who have performed many installations of the accessWidget. You agree to hold us harmless in the event of a problem during installation that can be shown to be caused by existing issues on your website, or concurrent activity on your website that is not being performed by us.

Any changes to the terms of service set by AccessiBe are solely the responsibility of AccessiBe. You agree to hold harmless Accessifi, should AccessiBe change their terms of service in any way that you find disagreeable.

Accessifi will fulfill our responsibility to contact AccessiBe, per the terms of their litigation support package, in the event you are subject to a website accessibility lawsuit while you have an active accessWidget license purchased through us. You agree to hold Accessifi LLC harmless in the event that a website accessibility lawsuit against you is successful, or if you choose to settle with any plaintiff involved in that lawsuit.

Accessifi strongly believe the accessiBe accessWidget is a viable solution to website accessibility and website ADA compliance issues. However we are not responsible for any damages resulting from your use of any software or services owned and administered by AccessiBe.

Accessifi can provide manual website accessibility remediation services if requested. We are experienced website developers and we will provide our best efforts to fix specific accessibility problems, agreed between you and us prior to beginning any manual remediation services. You agree to hold harmless Accessifi LLC in the event you are subject to a legal accessibility complaint or any other damages concerning specifically the issues Accessifi LLC agreed to work on. We are committed to further remediating any of these issues on your website.

 

FEES AND PAYMENT

When you purchase an accessWidget license through Accessifi, you are required to remunerate Accessifi, the full amount agreed between you and Accessifi, within 7 days of the date noted on the invoice.

The accessWidget license becomes active at the time of Accessifi generating the invoice.

Invoices will be sent by email, along with a separate follow-up email confirming that the invoice was received. Accessifi LLC are not responsible for non-receipt of the invoice, the invoice email, or the follow-up email.

If the 7 day period from the invoice date passes without full remuneration Accessifi reserves the right to terminate your accessWidget license agreement without repercussion from you. We have to do this to ensure that the cancellation is completed with the refund period set by AccessiBe. In the event that AccessiBe charges Accessifi a pro-rated license fee for the time the accessWidget license was active before cancellation, you are responsible for remunerating Accessifi to cover that pro-rated charge. You will be notified of that charge via a separate invoice from Accessifi, send via email.

We will provide you with a secure payment link, operated by the well-established online payment solution provider, Stripe. If you cannot for any reason make your payment online, you may suggest another means of payment in writing (email) before the invoice is generated. You may use the alternative method if both you and we agree in writing. If you do not agree to remunerate Accessifi online via the secure payment page from Stripe, nor the agreed upon alternative payment method, you may not purchase a license from us.

Licenses are only refundable and cancellable within 7 days of the original invoice creation date, noted on the invoice. After 7 days from the date of the original invoice the license fees are non-cancellable, and non-refundable.

By purchasing your accessWidget through Accessifi, you agree not to edit the accessWidget installation code without our written (email) consent. Doing so could affect the performance and effectiveness of the accessWidget. Any unauthorized changes is a violation of the discounted license pricing agreement between you and Accessifi. Any changes to the “AccessiBe” callout and link (the “mark”) at the bottom of the accessWidget UI is a violation of the discounted pricing agreement between you and Accessifi. Refusal to reinstate the AccessiBe mark on the accessWidget UI will invalidate the discount agreement with immediate effect at which time the license pricing will switch to the retail price set by AccessiBe.

 

AccessiBe Software and Services

We recommend that you read the following section titled “AccessiBe Terms of Service”.

AccessiBe Terms of Service

We, like you, are beholden to AccessiBe’s Terms of Service for using their AccessWidget, and any and all other related services that AccessiBe provide, including the website auditing service “AccessFlow”. AccessiBe are solely responsible for the AccessWidget, the license pricing policy, and any other services that they provide. We strongly recommend that you, as our client, read their terms of service. To find their terms of service, please follow these steps:

1: Click on this link to visit the AccessiBe website: https://accessibe.com/a/a2i3kaw

2: Scroll to the very bottom of the target page that results from clicking on the link in step 1.

3: At the bottom of the page on the AccessiBe website, click on the link “Terms of Service”.