The History
When the World Wide Web was created in the 1990’s (officially proposed by Tim Burners Lee in 1989), nobody imagined it would evolve to become what we now know it to be. As the Web evolved and became more complex, so did its use cases and availability.
In 1996, The United States Department of Justice officially ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to Internet Web Pages. The purpose of this legislation was simple. Remove obstacles that would inhibit someone with disabilities from accessing a public or private place available to the general public.
In order to keep up with this transforming nature of the web and ensure uniform accessibility, it is critical for developers and designers to follow these Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
The Challenges of Web Accessibility
The highly innovative and intrinsic nature of the web make it very difficult to govern accessibility with objective standards. Web accessibility guidelines are updated over time. This is in order to keep up and adapt with technology and the people who use it.
Following the WCAG guidelines will allow your websites to remain up-to-date and accessible. But, be aware that some of the guidelines are dependent on other updates. It is important to take these into consideration.
The schematic markup and code that the web consists of is also in a continuous state of change. These changes are generally implemented and release over a period of several years. Time will cause websites to have accessibility violations if they fail to reflect the current standards set by the ADA.
So, keeping up with the guidelines and current standards should keep you from being in violation? Potentially keep you from a lawsuit right? Not exactly. While we have guidelines, we don’t have a direct interpretation of the law as it pertains to the web.
Unintended Consequences of Web Accessibility
The first Web related ADA lawsuit was filed in 2000 against AOL by The National Federation for the Blind (NFB vs AOL). The lawsuit stated nine blind people enrolled with AOL found they couldn’t sign-up for e-mail without assistance. In the years following, lawsuits such as these have been on the rise.
The LA Times has a great explanation of the growing disconnect between the legal system enforcing ADA compliance and businesses trying to keep up with it:
“Though the ADA was enacted before websites were ubiquitous, many courts have interpreted the term “public accommodation” in the act’s Title III to encompass Internet companies. But clear rules for applying the ADA to websites have yet to be established. For instance, the courts are divided about whether all commercial websites are subject to the ADA… Under President Obama, the Department of Justice took the broader position. But, it didn’t issue any actual regulations providing specific guidance to businesses. Those are now expected in 2018. In the meantime, millions of businesses with websites have the worst of both worlds. Mandates without directions… applying Title III to websites — and to online content in general — is highly problematic, because websites are connected to the global economy. Making websites accessible to all is a far more complicated endeavor than modifying the premises of a business to accommodate disabled customers or disabled employees.”
Taking it a step further:
According to Amy KJose Anderson, in a article she wrote for the American Legislative Exchange Counsel, many ADA lawsuits are propagated by attorneys who seek out violations to make a quick buck.
She writes:
“An important reform in advancing equal access for the disabled has unfortunately been used by some bad actors for monetary gain more than disability advocacy and threatens the small business economy in some states…some of the serial litigators are doing more to rake in damages than increase accessibility.”
Moving Forward
In February of 2018, an amendment was passed (ADA Education and Reform Act (HR 620)) by the House of Representatives to reduce ADA lawsuits and give businesses a chance to become compliant with ADA guidelines before facing a lawsuit.
This amendment is a step in the right direction for businesses that make an honest attempt to accommodate everyone. However, businesses and individuals with public websites should heed ADA compliance and implement best practices moving forward. In addition, implementing accessibility guidelines when starting a project is more cost efficient then reworking guidelines into a pre-existing website.
As the web matures, accessibility for the disabled continually progresses. By keeping up with the latest standards, we will continue to solve accessibility issues with more accuracy than ever before.