Does Your Website Support People With Disabilities Online?


Most business owners would want to support people with disabilities, not only to help increase their sales but because MOST PEOPLE TRULY MEAN WELL. And while there has been great progress in the physical world of business regarding how to support various disability types, the question nowadays becomes how a business even begins to provide reliable website accessibility for all the different types of disabilities – ONLINE. For the average small to medium-sized business, the cost to code an entire website, its functionality, and all of its images & graphics >> compliant to ADA standards << is not only cost-prohibitive but a potentially never-ending process and cost. Read on because while this is not only a technology challenge, it has also become a legal challenge and there are inexpensive applications that can support and combat the situation.

support people with disabilities online

Credit: accessiBe


According to the American Disabilities Act (ADA), ‘for the public’ published materials produced by a business must be accessible to people with disabilities. And since the Department of Justice (DOJ) has affirmed that business websites are considered to be places of public accommodation, it means they must be accessible for people with disabilities. See one giant national Association’s (NAR) recommendation to its members on this matter: https://youtu.be/BJsJOHvjpJo

Folks, web accessibility lawsuits are on the rise! For a small to medium-sized business, the cost to code an entire website’s pages, its functionality, and all of its images & graphics >> compliant << is not only cost-prohibitive but a potentially never-ending process and cost. Compliant means having it all done in a way that meets the widely accepted standards defined in the ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ or  WCAG 2.1.

And while WCAG is an enormous document of standards, the web itself is never static or simple either. To serve them both correctly, you’ll also have to build a website that can be updated (i.e., code updates) regularly in order to remain in step with (web browser, search engine, host server, and mobile responsibility) standards. That is if you wish to continue to support people with disabilities month over month and year to year without having to rebuild the website again and again. Ultimately, what business can justify such an effort and such cost?

The GOOD NEWS is there are reliable, affordable, and cost-effective options … so please, read on!


What Does Disability Mean?

 

Disabled is defined as anybody with blindness and low vision, color blindness, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photo-sensitivity to certain colors, AND/OR any combination of them all. Contrary to what some may believe, becoming compliant is not only support for those in a wheelchair. It is a whole lot more.

The fact is, any business risks unnecessary legal expenses if they do not get up to speed. There is a growing list of business owners facing legal challenges in the area of website accessibility right now, making recognition of these issues necessary moving forward.


Options For The Average Business

 

If you have made it this far, you are likely wondering: “what options are there for my business?” The options to deal with this include the following:

● Do nothing and risk hearing from a lawyer representing someone with a disability
● Go offline… at a time when people expect you to have a web presence
● Build a compliant website from scratch … the cost being in the tens of thousands, to meet all of the standards detailed in WCAG 
● Hire ADA compliance consultants… apparently starting at $5k+/month
● Use basic website application plugins… but know many only cover 25- 30% of what is required to be fully compliant
● Get a fully compliant website application that addresses web accessibility for all disabilities, that is ongoing, automated, and that eliminates any need for special website programming (AFFORDABLE options!)

If supporting people with disabilities, not to mention avoiding legal action, concerns you, PLEASE give a call. We can share everything we’ve found in time spent looking into reliable options for a small to medium-sized business. 


Accessibility Compliance Information & Support