Make your website accessible to people with disabilities

Accessibility: The role of a website

Often neglected, people with vision, hearing and motor-skill impairments have long seen that neglect in the physical world extend into the internet and digital-realm as well. From videos to images and click interactions to mouse scroll animations, individuals with disabilities are often left to fend for themselves when browsing a website hoping that they'll be able to locate and interact with the functionality that they need such as purchasing important home goods and performing research for an upcoming college paper.

Website owners have a huge opportunity to spread awareness and love for disabled individuals. Whether it be providing accessible alternatives for webpages containing media files where important information is shared audibly, or sacrificing the latest design trend for the improved user experience of someone with attention-deficit disorder, websites have a low-cost opportunity to take a stand and make the world a better place for everyone.

Accessibility: The responsibility of a website

That role extends into a responsibility that websites have in terms of making their content and functionality accessible to everyone with or without a physical or mental limitation. A quote from Simone Weil reaffirms this:

“Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.”

An equal degree - not just a small or simple amount that's easy enough to implement. So, not only should websites try to improve the accessibility and user experience of their website, but they should continue to do so until the experience of the disabled website visitor rivals that of the non-disabled visitor.

Accessibility: The requirement of a website

That responsibility now translates into a requirement for the website - to make its content and functionality fully accessible. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires (Title 3) that places of "public accommodation" remove barriers to access for people with disabilities. For a long time it has been understood that the law applies to brick-and-mortar businesses, however, it's also becoming apparent how much this law applies to public websites as well.

Website-related ADA accessibility lawsuits have skyrocketed by nearly 300% since 2017. In 2019, one such case made the headlines: Robles v. Domino's Pizza, LLC. Robles suffered from blindness and made the case that he could not properly access and function the Domino's website with his screen-reading software. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals then reaffirmed the application of the ADA regulation to websites.

Today, over 7 new website-related ADA lawsuits are filed each and every day.