There are three common misconceptions about ADA compliance
- It’s expensive.
- It’s difficult to complete.
- There are no standards.
If the website for your business is mainly used for engaging potential new clients or existing clients with information about your company, blog postings or updates, it should not be very expensive to update and maintain ADA Compliance on your site.
If you have an ordering system, like a grocery store for example, you might have more of an investment ahead of you in order to remain compliant.
Secondly, it is not difficult to have an expert help keep your website ADA compliant; there are guidelines. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. Automated testing can be completed quickly and easily, but advanced manual testing completed by Quality Assurance screeners can ensure that your website meets the WCAG criteria that automated testing might miss.
Overall, a lawsuit will be much more expensive than investing in a digital team to update or build your website so that it meets the ADA Compliance requirements.
Protection from potential lawsuits is not just about being proactive. At some point, any one of us could experience a temporary disability. Becoming ADA Compliant is not just for those with impaired vision or blindness. Maybe you left your reading glasses at home or maybe you’re learning how to maneuver around with a broken arm until your cast is removed. ADA Compliance meets complex needs across many disabilities.
We can all learn a lesson about how smaller and temporary disabilities could impact our use of websites. Utilizing www.ADA.gov and www.w3.org can be the first step in better understanding guidelines for compliance.