close up of computer keyboard with handicapped icon on one of the keys

Turns out it's more important than ever to have an ADA-compliant website. Why? Because NOT having one can get your company sued. True story.

Why are companies being sued now?

Because disabled individuals (who turn into "plaintiffs" on class action lawsuits) now call themselves "activists" who are working to improve the internet (and as a result, society) for the disabled. Critics call it “legal extortion.”

Whichever side of the issue you're on, it's something your company should probably address.

Don't think it could happen to you? Think again.

Turns out home builder websites, health care websites, individuals like Beyoncé and companies like Pornhub have been sued (believe it or not, for not having "closed captions" on their videos). Note: the Pornhub link will NOT take you to their website, but to an ABC News story about the lawsuit.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was designed to assure those with a variety of disabilities, including those with significant vision or hearing impairments, have the same opportunities as anyone else. That law has been around since 1999, but now that the internet is almost considered a ”utility,” ADA compliance also applies to websites. So it's more important than ever to have an ADA-compliant website.

woman viewing an ADA-compliant website

What are the chances your company can be sued?

It's probably low, but you have insurance on other aspects of your business, don't you? We think you should look at making your website ADA-compliant as having insurance. The CDC says more than 5 million adults in the U.S. have either visual or hearing disabilities.

And since it's really not a lot of work to make your site compliant, why not do it? It is about $500 a year, but that should be a relatively small price to pay for assuring you don't have to deal with a lawsuit.

Want to see an ADA-compliant website? You're looking at one.

Our website is ADA-compliant, and they way you can tell is from the small blue handicap icon in the lower left corner of this page. (Of course, it's on every page of our website.)

When you click the icon, a window pops up that offers those sight-impaired individuals options to change our website to work best for their particular disability. It covers things like:

  • Content Adjustments which let people change the type size, the font itself and even word and line spacing
  • Color and Display adjustments that enable folks to change our website's color to more high-contrast colors on the chance they're having a difficult time deciphering text.
  • Changing navigation functions that allows them to use their keyboard to move around the site instead of using their mouse.
  • Allows them to change the language of our site to any of 14 different languages.
Does your web design company offer this option for your site?

If your web design company doesn't know about, or offer, this functionality for your website, perhaps you should be looking for a different web design company.

To see the other functionality of making your website ADA-compliant, check out the short video below from the company that offers this service.