Is Your WordPress Site ADA Compliant?
Business Owners Beware
If your business has to be ADA compliant, chances are your website has to be too. If you don’t know if your website is ADA compliant, it probably isn’t.
In 2018, there was a 200% increase in lawsuits targeting websites and mobile apps. The trend has continued into 2019. If your website is a year or two old, chances are the designers and developers weren’t aware this was even happening. Now everyone in the industry is talking about it, and almost no one has an ADA compliant website. With so much opportunity for lawyers to make money suing non-compliant companies, don’t be surprised if they come for you next.
What Businesses are at Risk the Most?
Generally, if your company needs to be ADA compliant, your website does too.
The ADA applies to organizations and businesses that fit one or more of the following criteria:
- All local, county, state, and federal government agencies.
- Any business that relies on the general public or for their benefit.
- Privately run companies that currently have 15 or more employees.
- Non-profit and charitable organizations that either have 15 or more employees or they operate for the benefit of the general public.
A good general guideline you can use to determine if your business should be ADA-compliant is to answer this question: “Does your business or organization have places or areas that are designed for public accommodation?”
Public accommodation is defined broadly and could include one or more of the following types of businesses or locations:
- Retail Stores
- Restaurants
- Public Parks
- Public Restrooms
- Airports
- Train/Rail/Subway Stations and Terminals
- Bus Stations and Terminals
- Healthcare Facilities and Hospitals
- Resorts, Hotels, and Motels
- Apartment and Rental Properties
- Public Sidewalks
- Parking Garages
- Sports Stadiums/Arenas
- Schools/Colleges/Universities
Essentially, any areas where people have access without any restrictions should follow the ADA requirements. It is equally important to remember that privately run businesses that do not rely on the general public or function for their benefit can still be bound by the ADA, so long as they have 15 or more people in their employ. [Accessibility Standards]
What You Can Do
ADA compliance can easily double the cost of a website, until now! There is new company is on the rise that has created AI (artificial intelligence) that scans your website and within 48 hours can make it ADA compliant. The AI then scans your website EVERY DAY and updates your new content to be compliant as well. At first I thought it was to good to be true, but after some research it turns out this is the real deal. Big companies like BMW, StateFarm, and Hilton are already using the service to great success. Oh, I almost forgot the best part, it’s only $500 a year.
Find out more at accessiBe.com.
Full disclosure: We believe that accessiBe is a quality product and will save our clients money and help them to become ADA Compliant. As of November 13th, 2019, after we researched the product and wrote this blog post, we became an authorized reseller of the accessiBe product. We now receive a commission if you click the accessiBe.com links in this article. We only rep products that we have researched and are willing to use for ourselves and our clients.