ADA Requirements for Business: Are You Compliant or At Risk?
ADA Requirements for Business: Are You Compliant or At Risk?
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Ensuring ADA compliance for both physical and digital spaces not only helps you adhere to legal standards but also protects your reputation and expands your audience. Below, we’ll discuss key ADA standards you need to adhere to and steps you can take to ensure inclusivity for all users.
With the increasing reliance on technology for virtually everything in life, it’s crucial that websites, mobile apps, online documents, and digital platforms be accessible and inclusive to all users.
Providing that accessibility is one of the purposes behind the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a U.S. federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and ensures they have equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of public life. In today’s digital world, this includes online spaces as well. Failing to provide accessible digital content can result in legal action that can be devastating to your business.
So, what exactly does ADA compliance mean? What ADA regulations do you have to meet to comply with the ADA? We’ll explain ADA compliance standards below — and how an ADA-compliant site positively impacts your business.
What Does ADA Compliance Mean for Businesses?
As we mentioned above, the ADA prohibits businesses from discriminating against people with disabilities in both physical and online spaces. To comply with the ADA, businesses must meet specific technical standards, which we’ll cover in more detail below.
ADA Title I and Title II Compliance
Included in the ADA are five titles that cover various aspects of public life. The two that apply most directly to businesses are Title I and Title II:
- Title I: Title I focuses on employment discrimination and protects the rights of individuals in all aspects of employment. This includes hiring, firing, promotions, job training, and other employment conditions. Additionally, employers must provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities so long as these accommodations do not impose undue hardship on the business.
- Title II: Title II prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all goods and services, programs, activities, and information provided by state and local governments. This includes entities like public transportation, schools, libraries, healthcare facilities, and other government services. Under recent updates to Title II, these entities must ensure their facilities and digital content are accessible to people with disabilities.
Who is Exempt from the ADA?
Similar to other civil rights laws, some businesses are exempt from ADA compliance. For instance, the ADA does not apply to private clubs, religious organizations, the federal government, and private, small businesses with fewer than 15 employees. However, even organizations exempt from ADA compliance should strive to provide an accessible experience as it fosters inclusivity.
What Happens Without ADA Compliance?
Failing to comply with the ADA can lead to significant risks for businesses and organizations. These risks include:
- Legal consequences: The most significant risk of non-compliance is accessibility lawsuits. Individuals with disabilities or the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) can file lawsuits against organizations that fail to provide an accessible experience. These lawsuits can lead to costly legal fees, settlements, or court-mandated changes to make their physical location or digital content accessible.
- Fines and penalties: Most businesses found in violation of the ADA may face fines. For instance, the maximum fine for a first-time violation is $75,000, with subsequent violations costing up to $150,000. This is in addition to legal fees that businesses may incur, which can be tens of thousands of dollars.
- Reputation damage: Failing to meet ADA standards can harm your business’s reputation, as you may be seen as discriminatory towards individuals with disabilities. That negative reputation can quickly lead to losing customer trust and loyalty.
- Loss of business: Inaccessible facilities or digital platforms alienate individuals with disabilities from accessing and potentially purchasing from you. And with the disability community controlling roughly $13 trillion in disposable income, you could miss out on numerous sales opportunities.
- Operational disruptions: If you’re sued for non-compliance, you may be required to make changes (sometimes substantial ones) to your facility or digital content. This can disrupt your operations and result in unanticipated costs for renovations, website modifications, training, etc.
Adhering to ADA compliance standards helps you to avoid legal risks and keep your reputation intact. Additionally, providing accessible physical facilities and digital spaces widens your audience reach, opening the door for new revenue opportunities and business growth.
ADA Requirements for Businesses
Now that you understand the risks of non-compliance let’s look at the requirements you must follow in your physical and online spaces to comply with the ADA.
Physical Space Requirements
The ADA requirements for physical accessibility focus on making buildings and facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities. The guidelines are included in the ADA Standards for Accessible Design and are each designed to ensure public and commercial spaces can be accessed by people with various disabilities, including those with mobility, visual, auditory, or cognitive impairments.
Many physical buildings are not accessible to individuals with disabilities for numerous reasons. For example, buildings with stairs leading to the main entrance with no ramp or alternate accessible entry prevent those with mobility disabilities from accessing the building easily or at all. Lack of accessible parking or signage can also make it difficult for individuals with disabilities to access a public building easily.
To ensure equal access to public spaces, particularly for people with disabilities, the ADA mandates physical buildings include:
- Accessible entrances: Buildings must provide at least one accessible entrance, such as a wheelchair ramp, with a clear, accessible route into the building.
- Doorways: Doorways should be wide enough to accommodate individuals in wheelchairs; automatic doors should be provided wherever possible.
- Elevators: Elevators are provided in buildings if the facility has multiple floors, with tactile buttons and audio indicators.
- Parking: Buildings must provide designated accessible parking spaces that are close to the building entrance. These parking lot spaces must be wider to accommodate vehicles with ramps or lifts to ensure easy maneuvering of mobility devices like wheelchairs.
- Restrooms: Accessible restrooms must have wider stalls, grab bars, and enough space for wheelchair maneuverability. Sinks and hand dryers should also be at an accessible height.
- Signage: Signs for important areas throughout the building (e.g., restrooms or exits) must include Braille or raise characters to accommodate individuals with visual impairments. Additionally, signs should have large print to ensure easy readability.
- Service desks: Service counters or desks must be lowered to accommodate wheelchair users, with the space underneath clear for legroom.
- Service animals: Both new and existing facilities must accommodate service animals.
Digital Spaces Requirements
As the world has become more digital, the DOJ recognized the need to extend accessibility standards to online spaces to ensure individuals with disabilities have equal access to the internet. Accessible spaces not only help promote inclusivity and equal opportunities but also help you comply with legal standards, expand your audience reach, and provide a better user experience.
While the ADA itself does not include specific guidelines for web accessibility, it does enforce the accessibility standards outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) — more specifically, WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Designed around four key principles (POUR), the WCAG guidelines help to eliminate barriers that hinder individuals with disabilities from easily accessing or using online content. Some of these accessibility barriers include:
- Visual barriers: Lack of alt text for images, poor color contrast between text and other web elements, or missing captions or transcripts for multimedia content can make it difficult for users with visual impairments (including blindness, low vision, or color blindness) to perceive information.
- Auditory barriers: Videos or audio content that don’t include captions or transcripts exclude those who are deaf or hard of hearing from interacting or accessing information.
- Motor barriers: Website navigation that relies too heavily on mouse interaction can create challenges for those with motor impairments who may use adaptive devices (e.g., keyboard-only navigation or voice commands).
- Cognitive barriers: Complex language, indistinguishable fonts, cluttered layouts, or unclear instructions can create challenges for individuals with cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or traumatic brain injuries, from easily comprehending or navigating content.
- Technical barriers: Digital content that isn’t compatible with assistive technologies, including screen readers or text-to-speech software, can prevent users from accessing content, excluding them from participating online.
For effective barrier removal, it’s critical to conduct regular accessibility assessments. Using tools like AudioEye’s free Web Accessibility Checker can give you a high-level overview of how accessible your existing digital content is and where improvements need to be made. Additionally, following accessible web design best practices can help you build accessibility into your digital content from the very start, improving the user experience for all.
For a more comprehensive list of ADA requirements, check out our ADA Compliance Checklist.
Accessibility Training for Employees
Adherence to ADA guidelines is a team effort — it requires all team members to understand the guidelines they need to follow and how they contribute to compliance. Accessibility training can help with this by giving learners a comprehensive understanding of website accessibility requirements, principles, guidelines, best practices, and more.
The best accessibility training courses, however, go beyond teaching how to comply with the ADA or WCAG (though they are covered). They go a step further, teaching digital content creators how to create a culture of inclusivity and empathy.
For example, AudioEyeQ, AudioEye’s best-in-class learning platform, provides expert-led training that provides learners with comprehensive knowledge of accessibility. In addition to teaching accessible design best practices, AudioEyeQ includes in-depth discussions on accessibility laws, standards, and benefits, as well as how to strategically manage accessibility from a leadership level. With AudioEyeQ, learners get all the knowledge needed to create more accessible and inclusive digital experiences.
Get Expert Help from AudioEye to Make Your Website ADA Accessible
ADA compliance isn’t just a legal obligation — it shows your commitment to inclusivity and equal access for all. Think about it this way: Making your physical and online spaces accessible to everyone opens up your doors to a broader audience, creating new opportunities for revenue. Not only does prioritizing accessibility help to reduce potential legal action, but it creates a welcoming environment for all your customers — including those with disabilities.
While ADA compliance may seem overwhelming, with AudioEye, it’s easy. Our free Web Accessibility Scanner gets you started by finding common WCAG violations while our Automated Fixes automatically fix these issues. We supplement this testing with Expert Testing from our team of human experts. The team thoroughly reviews your site for more complex accessibility issues that could put you at risk for legal action and provides in-depth guidance for fixing them. With AudioEye, your path to ADA compliance is simple, easy, and cost-effective.
Plus, AudioEye has the lowest valid legal claim rate in the industry at just 17%, giving you peace of mind that your digital content is accessible and compliant.
Ready to get started? Use our free Web Accessibility Scanner to assess the accessibility of your existing digital content.
Want to see AudioEye in action? Schedule a demo today.
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