After I watched a report on my local news about a local small business getting hit with a federal lawsuit for a non-compliant website, I decided to check this situation out.
Now, this local business did not receive any advance warning about its noncompliance with ADA website standards; no scary warning letter arrived that threatened the business with a lawsuit. There was just a visit from a process server proclaiming those three dreaded words, “You’ve been served.
If ADA website compliance wasn’t so important, some of the activities surrounding this issue might be funny, in a perverse kind of way. More on that in a minute.
On the really serious side, there are 61 million people in the USA who are living with a disability, according to the CDC. There are potential customers of yours who really can’t see your website all that clearly (if they can read any of it at all). They’d like to know what you’re offering, but they’re having a very hard time reading what it is.
Think for just a minute about the almost 6% of Americans who can’t hear any of the audio on your terrific and expensive marketing videos on your website or YouTube channel.
Or the almost 11% of Americans who have “serious difficulty” concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. How easy is it to follow along with the content on your pages?
Instead of facilitating clear communication, is it possible that a fancy design on your site is actually hampering understanding by significant portions of potential customers? That would be kind of a shame, wouldn’t it?
A big-time law firm from another state might cause you lots of heartaches and plenty of money, but to what end? Does the cash you pay to settle the lawsuit (currently around an average of $50,000) help any disabled person to be able to access your website more easily? No. You’ve just gotten financially tagged for violating the standards of website accessibility under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Except there are no hard and fast standards. There are no written rules you can follow. (What? Come again?)
Ironic? Maybe. Funny? Not really. So what is a responsible business owner to do?
First, don’t panic or throw your hands up in frustration. We can help jump-start your progress towards a more inclusive website fairly easily and quickly - and at a very reasonable, fair fee. At least, you'll be able to prove an intent - with appropriate actions - to make your website ADA-compliant. (There are some published standards by other, more helpful entities that will help us.)
Just remember, for now, we can get you set up on the path of website inclusion quickly. From there on, it’s a step-by-step journey we can travel together to maximize your website’s ability to reach and sell to anyone.
Seriously, isn’t that a worthy goal?