The marketplace has become increasingly inundated with web accessibility lawsuits and that means small and medium-sized businesses across the country need to start thinking seriously of taking the necessary steps to make their websites accessible. Surprisingly, it is the companies’ websites that are especially vulnerable considering the rate at which these small companies are being swept up in ADA compliance lawsuits across the country.
ADA compliance refers to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. It’s a civil rights law that goes much further than ensuring accessible parking spaces. Under the law, a business must ensure that its website is fully accessible because such a website is legally considered “public.”
There were 3,550 digital accessibility cases filed in 2020, a 22.8% increase from the year prior. Law firms seem to be targeting smaller businesses more than others. That should be a concern because it demonstrates that these firms can rapidly assess whether a business has done an adequate job of making their website properly accessible. Simply ignoring the problem and hoping that you won’t be swept up in the litigation is the riskiest approach, and it can be terribly costly if you get sued.
The best approach you can take is to be proactive.
So how do you know if your website is ADA compliant? Websites that do not include a clickable ADA Accessible symbol are not ADA compliant. It’s that simple. ADA compliant websites include a symbol that visitors can click on in order to set their accessibility profile, and then the website is automatically optimized based on the individual viewer’s accessibility settings.
LevelField.ai has an outstanding solution for making websites ADA Accessibility Compliant. LevelField.ai performs an exhaustive analysis of your website to find the vulnerabilities that need attention. Then they use their technology to make your website ADA-compliant. Small and medium sized businesses will be pleased to find that their pricing is very appealing.
So how does LevelField.ai achieve all this? Leadership at the company was kind enough to share their secret. They utilize machine-learning techniques that are applied to the consumer-facing pages on your website. It is an innovative technology that understands the finer structures of the content on your web pages and makes your web pages ADA compliant. Whether your website has audio features, video, or just written content with still images; this technology allows your pages to dynamically adjust to user preferences. Your website visitor can select options such as seizure safe, vision impaired, cognitive disability, ADHD friendly, and more. The website automatically optimizes the pages, enabling the visitor to use your website with ease.
“Web accessibility for our real estate website was always on our minds. LevelField.ai made that happen with ease and without downtime,” said Jordan Burns, IT Manager, Security Pacific Real Estate. “We are so happy to have an ADA-compliant website.”
Companies invest substantial time and resources into making their website a significant revenue driver for their business. Precautions should be taken to ensure that your website isn’t contributing to your risks and liabilities by not offering web accessibility and possibly missing out on a large base of potential clients.
“Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act” https://www.ada.gov/
Melton, James – “Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act,” March 30, 2021 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2021/03/30/web-accessibility-lawsuits-grow-and-retailers-are-the-main-targets/
