Since 2009 the world of website development has been a little more proactive in providing a solution to this ADA Regulations “Accessibility” issue with websites than the Department of Justice.
ADA Website Accessibility Warning
The DOJ postponed their delivery of amended regulations or outlines or guidelines for website developers to follow. In a July 21, 2017 article published by ADATitleIII.com (http://www.adatitleiii.com/2017/07/doj-places-website-rulemaking-on-the-inactive-list/) we find out that the DOJ has put the completion of ADA website rule making on the inactive list.
This is not a relaxing moment. Without the D.O.J. making a ruling they are deferring to the courts to make the ruling, which means that Case Law will continue be the source for the application of ADA Regulations upon websites as a result law suits will continue to increase.
Creating case law requires 3 parties; Plaintiffs, Defendants and Attorneys, therefore, businesses will spend hard earned money in Settlements and Legal Fess not just website repairs. Based on precedence set since 2009 defendants will pay opposing attorney fees; either in their settlements or fines and penalties levied by the court after losing their case.
“So, Plaintiffs are not paying legal fees when suing you because your website is not accessible to them.”
One reason for the DOJ to shelf the topic is the fact that Accessibility has been described clearly in Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act; it prohibits discrimination by public accommodations; it requires equal access to the goods, benefits and services that are accessible by the public; it requires auxiliary aides and services, that may be necessary, to be provided at no extra charge to ensure effective communications with individuals with disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities Act written into law in 1990 is the basis for governing the functionality of the Website development industry which began in approximately the year 2000.
These are the industries in 2017 that were hit with Federal Website Lawsuits by August 15, 2017; Academic, Entertainment, Financial, Hospitality, Medical, Personal Services this refers to Hair Salons and Gyms), Property, Restaurant, Retail, Vehicle Manufacturer, Other. As of April 2017 Website Accessibility lawsuits represent and 18% increase over ADA Title III Federal Cases filed in the same period in 2016.
You may think because there are over 378 million active websites hosted in the United States that no one will find your broken website. Run the numbers. There are 3.4 million visually impaired or blind people in the United States. If only 15% surf the internet (510,000) and we do not include the law firms that are proactively looking for non-compliant websites and you are left with 378 million websites divided by 500,000 people. If these visually impaired and/or blind people ONLY visit ONE website per day that means that they could visit and test all 378 million websites within 756 days or 2 years and 26 days. If we are real conservative about the time frame and say sometime in the next 3 to 5 years many website owners are gong to receive a demand letter from a plaintiff accusing them of discrimination.
We estimate that most websites less than 100 pages can be repaired for between $1000 and $2000 dollars. Fighting this battle in court really is a waste of time and money. No guarantees on repair costs until we actually audit your website.
Create a defendable position. By investing a little money to have an ADA Compliant website you are now in control of the situation and have a defendable position.
In addition to bringing your website into compliance with ADA Accessibility regulations if you publish Accessibility Policy on your website and show consistent monitoring of your website status you are showing that you are making every possible effort to comply with the regulations.
We provide a way for website owners to protect themselves, a checks and balances tool that can be used to verify or validate that a newly built website is ADA Compliant or a recently repaired website has actually brought into compliance. The ADAWebComplainceTeam.com provides this very service, the ability to audit any website from a 3rd Party position.
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