ADA Reporting for Websites
The ADA.gov website says that “Title III prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors’ offices) and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation—as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities such as factories, warehouses, or office buildings)—to comply with the ADA Standards.” This has been interpreted by the United States courts to include websites.
ADA compliance means that there should be an equal experience for everyone whether in a physical location or on a website. Businesses want customers to be able to access the services/products they’re offering, and a website should not have any barriers to those with disabilities. As per the ADA mandates, 20% of the population with vision, hearing, or physical impairments should be able to access, navigate, and interact with your website. There are guidelines on how to achieve this compliance.
Benefits of having an ADA compliant website:
Tax Credits
The U.S. government is committed to encouraging and assisting businesses that adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ensuring your website is accessible can make your business eligible for tax credits of up to $5,000.
Improved Performance
Websites that are accessible experience higher traffic, lower bounce rates, enhanced SEO rankings, and increased conversion rates. By ensuring your website is accessible, you make it easier for people to discover and navigate it. Since Google continually assesses search engine result page (SERP) rankings by considering web page usability and user experience, it makes sense that websites with better accessibility features would be favored over those lacking such accommodations.
Widen Your Clients’ User Base
By making your websites accessible to the 15% of the global population living with disabilities, you can tap into a market with a spending power of $8 trillion, according to research by the Valuable 500. In addition to expanding your user base, enhancing accessibility also improves the overall user experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Brand Reputation
Brand reputation and social responsibility are vital for businesses, and ensuring web accessibility is a key aspect of this. To comply with legislation and uphold your brand’s reputation, it’s important to address web accessibility. Implementing an accessibility solution will allow you to create an accessibility statement, which speaks volumes about your brand’s values.
As the website owner, you don’t have to worry about how to figure out if your website ADA-compliant, because we will do it for you! Abacus Web Services now offers an ADA Reporting Service provided by accessiBe, the industry leader and pioneer of an AI-powered solution, that will show if your website is ADA compliant.
This service includes three phases: (This specific service is for WordPress websites. If your site is not built in WordPress please let us know.)
- The purchase and installation of a special WordPress plug-in for your website. The software is able to complete an accessibility audit and report on those parts of your website that are not ADA compliant. We review and interpret the report and provide you with an executive summary as to what issues need to be fixed.
- Once the issues have been identified, we fix them for you and confirm that the changes meet the accessibility requirements.
- We provide ongoing maintenance of monitoring and reporting of compliance.
Please note! This service is intended to assist websites in being ADA compliant. While we endeavor to supply accurate information with this service, errors and omissions may occur. Abacus Web Services does not accept any liability, direct or indirect, for any loss or damage which may directly or indirectly result from any advice, opinion, information, representation or omission whether negligent or otherwise, provided by this service. You are solely responsible for the actions you take in reliance on the content on, or accessed, on your website through this service.
