Web accessibility: why it matter and how your website measures up

Web accessibility: why it matter and how your website measures up

Why Web Accessibility Matters: Compliance & Inclusivity

From 2017 to 2022, research indicates a total of 16,000 digital accessibility lawsuits that have been filed in U.S. federal and state courts, with this number not even accounting for the demand letters that could amount to a whopping 50,000 accessible claims overall. The US Department of Justice has been emphasizing the importance of the ADA compliance guidelines for nearly 20 years. Fighting an accessibility lawsuit is usually an uphill battle with most businesses settling with painful expenses, legal repercussions, and brand reputational damages.

eCommerce is at the highest risk, with 77% of 2022 ADA lawsuits coming from the industry alone, and 97% of organizations overall are at risk of accessibility lawsuits.

The bottom line: a compliant website that conforms to ADA guidelines and regulations is absolutely paramount to maintain your business continuity, along with ethical and social responsibility to ensure user experiences are inclusive to all people with disabilities or impairments.

There are over 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, and 60 million in the U.S. with a $490 million disposable income. But Forbes tells us that nearly 45% of people with disabilities surveyed in a study indicated that they abandoned online shopping due to a design-related accessibility issue. If your website is not accessible, your earning potential is at risk, over and above legal standing.

Some best practices to adopt that will help ensure all online user can access your website or digital assets include:

1. Performing regular automated and manual audits of your website to identify the violations and remediations required.
2. Remediate any violations or fixes required – from text size, font, contrast, alt text, and html tags.
3. Try testing your website for its accessibility levels with actual individuals with disabilities, from speech readers, to keyboard navigation, and testing accessibility widget capabilities.
4. Adopt an accessibility widget that simplifies the implementation of audits, adjustments and remediations required to ensure your site is inclusive and offers a compliant and engaging user experience to everyone.

For more insight on how to ensure your website is accessible and ADA compliant, reach out to us.