ADA/WCAG Compliance

ADA Compliance: The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places open to the general public. For websites, this means ensuring that online content is accessible to everyone, including those with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments. ADA compliance helps prevent lawsuits and promotes inclusivity by providing equal access to digital content.

WCAG Compliance: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are a set of recommendations developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for making web content more accessible. WCAG is organized into four principles:

    1. Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presented to users in ways they can perceive. This includes providing text alternatives for non-text content, creating content that can be presented in different ways without losing information, and making it easier for users to see and hear content.
    2. Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. This involves making all functionality available from a keyboard, providing users enough time to read and use content, avoiding content that causes seizures, and providing ways to help users navigate and find content.
    3. Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. This includes making text readable and understandable, making web pages appear and operate in predictable ways, and helping users avoid and correct mistakes.
    4. Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means ensuring compatibility with current and future user tools.

Why You Want ADA/WCAG Compliance

Achieving ADA and WCAG compliance is crucial for several reasons:

    • Legal Protection: Avoiding lawsuits and legal penalties associated with non-compliance. The ADA mandates that websites be accessible, and failure to comply can result in costly legal action.
    • Increased Audience Reach: Making content accessible to a broader audience, including people with disabilities. Approximately 15% of the global population has some form of disability, so ensuring your website is accessible can significantly expand your audience.
    • Enhanced User Experience: Improving overall usability and customer satisfaction. Accessible websites are generally easier to navigate and use for everyone, not just people with disabilities.
    • Corporate Responsibility: Demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. Companies that prioritize accessibility show that they value diversity and inclusivity, which can enhance their reputation and brand loyalty.

Solution! AccessiBe!

AccessiBe is a leading service designed to help websites achieve ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance by adhering to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). These standards ensure that digital content is accessible to people with disabilities, which is not only a legal requirement but also enhances user experience and inclusivity.

Features of AccessiBe

AccessiBe offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features designed to streamline the process of making websites ADA and WCAG compliant:

Monitoring

    • Compliance Monitoring: AccessiBe continuously checks your website to ensure it meets ADA/WCAG standards. This ongoing monitoring helps identify and rectify issues before they become problematic.
    • Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate detection and notification of accessibility issues as they arise. This feature ensures that any new content added to the site remains accessible.
    • Dynamic Crawling: Regular scanning of website content to identify new or recurring accessibility issues. Dynamic crawling ensures that even dynamically generated content is checked for compliance.

Automation

    • Automated Testing: Using AI to conduct thorough accessibility testing without manual intervention. Automated testing speeds up the compliance process and ensures consistent checking across all site elements.
    • Automated Scan: Routine automated scans that help maintain ongoing compliance. These scans are scheduled regularly to ensure that any changes or updates to the site do not introduce new accessibility issues.

Functionality

    • Customizable Testing Tools: Tools that allow customization to fit specific accessibility requirements. This flexibility ensures that the unique needs of your website and audience are met.
    • Filtering: Ability to filter and prioritize accessibility issues based on severity or type. This feature helps web developers focus on the most critical issues first.
    • Overlay Engine: An overlay widget that allows users to adjust website elements to improve accessibility. Users can customize their viewing experience by adjusting text size, contrast, and other settings.
    • Individual Page Auditing: Detailed auditing of specific pages to ensure they meet accessibility standards. This feature allows for targeted checks on pages that might be more complex or have specific compliance requirements.
    • Integration: Seamless integration with existing website infrastructure. AccessiBe can be added to most websites without significant changes to the site’s code or design.

Reporting

    • Page Reports: Detailed reports that highlight accessibility issues and suggest fixes. These reports provide actionable insights for web developers and content creators to make necessary adjustments.

Generative AI

    • AI Text-to-Speech: Advanced text-to-speech technology that converts written content into audio, enhancing accessibility for visually impaired users. This feature ensures that all text content is accessible to users who rely on auditory information.

Conclusion

Why ADA/WCAG compliance? If your business is in Colorado, California, Illinois or Massachusetts you must have a ADA/WCAG compliant website. If you do business with the government, in most cases, you’ll need ADA/WCAG compliance as well.

AccessiBe provides a continuously updating, one-click, robust, automated solution for ensuring ADA and WCAG compliance, which is essential for legal protection, improved user experience, and broader audience reach. Its features, such as real-time monitoring, dynamic crawling, and AI-driven tools, make it a valuable asset for any website aiming to be inclusive and accessible. By leveraging AccessiBe’s comprehensive suite of tools, including a ADA compliance WordPress plugin, websites can not only meet legal requirements but also demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility.

Also, if you sign up for ADA/WCAG Compliance through us, we can give you a 10% discount ($441 after discount) on the yearly fee!

This review was written in association with accessiBe