ADA compliance is a legal requirement for public spaces, private businesses, and organizations with more than 15 employees. It ensures that people who have disabilities can access the same opportunities as everyone else. Plugins like accessiBe WordPress can help WordPress sites comply with these requirements.
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990 to provide “a clear and comprehensive national mandate for eliminating discrimination against individuals with disabilities.” The ADA mandates that all new construction be accessible to disabled persons. So even if you’re not building anything new but simply remodeling an older space or updating your website – it’s essential to ensure that all changes comply with ADA standards. Failure to do so will result in fines or even lawsuits from those discriminated against.
What are the requirements for ADA website compliance?
All government websites are required to comply with ADA standards. However, if your website is for a business or organization, you still must ensure that the site is accessible to disabled persons under Title III of the ADA.
There are three main factors you have to consider when making an accessible website:
1) Providing text alternatives for non-text content (images with alt-text, transcripts for audio recordings, etc.)
2) Providing alternatives to time-based media (adding subtitles or captions to videos)
3) Ensuring that pages can be navigated without a mouse (keyboard-only navigation)
How do we comply with ADA regulations?
Once you’ve decided to ensure your website, mobile app, or other digital project is accessible to disabled people – it’s time to figure out how to do that. Here are a few things you should keep in mind when making any changes:
1) Every piece of content must have an alternative available. If certain elements are required for the site’s core functionality but aren’t available in an accessible form, you must provide an alternative piece of content that does comply with ADA guidelines. For example, if your website design requires people to use a certain font size – make sure there is also a text-only version without it so everyone can access the site’s information.
2) Every image, video, and audio recording on your site must have an alternative available in an accessible format.
3) A keyboard-only navigation option is a necessity for ADA compliance. This means that it’s not enough to simply add a skip link in the header of each page – certain interactive elements within the content itself might need to be navigated with a keyboard as well. This can be done by adding ARIA attributes to the elements in question, which tell screen readers and other adaptive technologies that they can ignore those certain parts.
4) Make sure your website is readable without colorful graphics or images by using high contrast themes, styles, and color schemes. This is a must for color-blind people and those with impaired vision.
5) Make sure your website is designed to be highly legible on all devices – desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones alike.
ADA compliance is a complex subject that touches every aspect of a digital project – from development to design to content production. As of 2022, more than 56 percent of Americans have some sort of disability, so failing to make your digital project accessible can cause you serious legal troubles. It’s important to keep in mind that non-compliant websites are not just inaccessible for disabled people, but they’re also frustrating user experiences for everyone accessing the site.
