WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY Here’s what you need to know about making your website ADA compatible. (Yes, that’s a thing.) BY DAVID GIBSON, Propeller Media Works
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As adventure parks continue to expand adaptive programs and inclusive design of their physical spaces, operators must also consider the accessibility of their digital spaces. This is because websites and mobile apps are now recognized as “places of public accommodation,” and thus subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The growth in web-related ADA lawsuits has spurred many to take action—not just to avoid costly lawsuits, but to also ensure that the website experience works for all visitors. So how do digital spaces relate to the ADA? It’s often things most of us have never considered: people with impaired eyesight or color blindness, cognitive challenges, hearing impairments, as well as those with physical mobility limitations attempting to use websites and mobile apps to learn, shop, connect, or be entertained. Things that many of us take for granted, yet would struggle to be without. Here, we will discuss website accessibility, why it’s important, steps you can take to get your website in compliance, and the legal landscape that is driv-
ing businesses to invest in necessary changes. We aim to limit—but cannot eliminate—the technical terms in an effort to make this article accessible to all, of course.
dard that is recognized by the courts— the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG). The WCAG was established by the World Wide Web Consortium, which is an international governing body of web standards.
WHO IS AFFECTED? Approximately 13 percent of Americans have a disability. Add in an aging Boomer generation, and it’s even more important now to consider the challenges that these populations face when using websites and mobile apps. These persons use a broad range of assistive technologies, such as screen readers and magnifiers, voice recognition, keyboard only, pointing devices, and other tools to navigate websites. Unless a website is specifically designed and built to enable these devices, users inevitably hit barriers that can completely block them from accessing a website’s content and features. THE STANDARD TO FOLLOW In the absence of clear regulations and requirements for website accessibility from both the ADA and the Department of Justice (DOJ), there is a de facto stan-
The WCAG has three levels: A, AA, and AAA. WCAG 2.1 is the current version. In the U.S. and most other countries, WCAG A and AA levels serve as the standard to follow. If your website meets the criteria of this standard, it means users with disabilities should have unbridled access, and you are not at risk of legal action. THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE Years of case law have established precedents that strongly suggest websites must either comply with the WCAG (in the absence of specific guidelines in the ADA) or face an increasingly high risk of legal action. Trolling law firms have jumped on this opportunity and have established a cottage industry focused on website ADA compliance, just as they did for cases involving physical barriers and ADA. Since the access in question is digital,