I know, I know — even scrolling through my lightning list felt too long.

This is a project and it does take some time but, I promise, it is doable.

Of course, the above bullets are just a quick outline. I’ve created an expanded WCAG in Plain English guide that goes into more detail. If you would like to get this for free, you can subscribe to Accessible.org and I’ll email you the guide within 24 hours.

My guide is written in as simple terms as humanly possible so you can better understand what to do for each of the bullet points above.

WCAG 2.1 AA

You may have heard about WCAG 2.1 AA.

What’s the deal here?

WCAG 2.1 is basically 2.0 + 12 more bullet points to take care of.

The W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) added in some stuff to help mobile accessibility and then things they wished they had put in 2.0.

The good news is nothing in 2.0 AA has been undone so you’ll always want to start there anyway.

You’re in great shape if you have 2.0 AA conformance and if you’re able to take it to the next level with 2.1, that’s dynamite.

Read my WCAG 2.0 vs. 2.1 article where I fully breakdown how to view each.

Subscribe to Accessible.org and you’ll get both my 2.0 AA and 2.1 AA plain English guides for free.

Alright, you’ve earned a 15 minute break just by getting this far down the page.

Okay, you definitely earned that victory lap you just took around the office by getting through the 8-minute informational gauntlet above but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, you’ve got at least another 20 minutes of hard labor (#sarcasm) to finish off this whole “make-your-website-accessible” project.

Some quick notes:

#1 Legal Best Practices

There is a separate set of legal best practices to ADA compliance as well: training, having a web accessibility policy page, making a web accessibility statement, appointing an accessibility coordinator, hiring an independent consultant, and inviting feedback.

For smaller businesses, you’ll likely go without the coordinator and consultant formalities above due to budget constraints, but the bigger you are, the more thorough I recommend you become with your approach to web accessibility.

#2 Don’t Fall for Instant Gimmicks

Don’t waste your money buying any automatic solution to making your website accessible.

Automatic solutions are any quick installs where you get a clickable toolbar on your website. They’re usually referred to as toolbars, overlays, widgets, plugins, or apps.

I die a little inside every time someone emails me after buying one and asks what I think.

These things are absolutely garbage and don’t make your website accessible.

And plaintiffs’ lawyers are starting to sue websites that are using them.

A lot of people thought they would be safe using one but they’re not at all.

I posit that they actually put you at higher risk.

Read my article on why overlays are dead.

#3 Don’t Pay for Automated Scans

The way you get started with accessibility is typically you 1) audit and then 2) remediate your website.

Be extremely careful who you hire.

I’ve had clients who pay $1,500 and get a fancy PDF that contains issues that were found using only free automated scans.

Anyone can easily use the WAVE and AXE accessibility browser extensions for free (these are good automated accessibility checkers that give you a feel for where you stand) — you don’t need to hire someone to run these for you.

Another good automated tool is Tenon.io. This one is premium and gives you more of a technical deep dive.

Automated scans or audits only tell 1/4 of the accessibility story so you can’t solely rely on them. Automated checks can be helpful but are limited to being supplemental guides that point you in the right direction.

To get a complete picture of your website’s accessibility, you need an accessibility expert to manually review your site. Many agencies won’t offer manual audits because it takes several hours and real effort and (gulp!) potential liability.

The main point here is if you are looking for a DFY (Done For You) solution, be careful that you aren’t just getting an automated scan — make sure you’re getting a comprehensive manual audit.

#4 Smaller Budgets

If you’re a small business with a smaller budget (less than $5,000), the options are few (again, don’t fall for automated, instant “fixes” that don’t do anything). Most accessibility companies are priced for enterprise clients.

My article on affordable website accessibility gives will give you an idea on a cheaper, DIY direction.

Parallel State Lawsuits

By far, the most ADA Website Compliance litigation comes from California, New York, and Florida.

Let’s focus on California and New York because their state courts have seen a surge in web accessibility lawsuits.

Why?

In a nutshell, California and New York have their own state versions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Unruh Act in California and New York Human Rights Law in New York) which act essentially the same as the ADA but provide for more damages to plaintiffs.

So the same thing is happening as with the ADA (taking advantage of a loophole in the law) but now it’s not only happening in federal court but state court too.

Again, your best move is to make your website accessible ASAP.

You can get dinged from so many angles by so many different plaintiffs.

What to do next

I wrote the book on this stuff. No, really, it’s called The ADA Book.

The most common complaint in demand letters and lawsuits is a very easy one to fix: alt text.

I call alt text a gateway complaint because it’s easy for plaintiff’s lawyers to spot and, then, once they have it, they’ll pile on as many other items as they can find to make you look bad and increase their settlement amount.

To fix alt text, just change the value of your alt attribute to convey the meaning of an image.

This fix amounts to editing your code so that you include a text description of what images are.

Here are four other critical items:

Making your website fully usable by keyboard only (you can unplug the mouse and still fully use the website)

Coding in labels for form fields (you program your forms so that the field labels such as “first name” are read by screen readers)

Using descriptive anchor text for links (you write links so that someone can tell what the linked page is about — not “click here” or “learn more” but “donate to the XYZ dog rescue” or “specs on the new iPhone 11 Pro Max”)

Structuring your headings (e.g. h1, h2) so that they are correctly nested

Remember, updating your website to become ADA compliant is a process, not a flip of a switch so the best way to become compliant is to start doing what you can and not get caught in planning and procrastination mode.

ADA website compliance lawsuits are being filed like crazy right now. 2018 was a record year for number of lawsuits filed, 2019 eclipsed 2018, and 2020 is very likely going to set another record (look out for a surge in state lawsuits including Unruh Act lawsuits in California and Human Rights Law lawsuits in New York).

The answer to preventing a lawsuit is easy: make your website accessible; the solution, however, is not.

The Supreme Court declined to review Domino’s web accessibility case.

And while you figure out your plan of action and are in the process of making your website accessible, you might get hit by a demand letter or lawsuit.

Settlements on ADA website compliance typically range from $10,000 to $50,000.

Remember, the best course of action is to attack website accessibility now. Do not wait on this or it could cost you.

And here’s the kicker: if you do get hit with a demand letter and end up settling, you still have to make your website accessible.

Want another kicker? Just because you’re sued once doesn’t mean you can’t get sued again by someone else (this is actually very common — many companies have already had this happen).

How about a third kicker on your fantasy football team? Here it is: the Americans with Disabilities Act is a strict liability law which means there are no excuses to non-compliance (even though I’d say there’s a good one in there not being a federal law for private entities).

Working diligently on your accessibility but still missing a few things? Too bad, you lose. Pay up.

Hired a reputable web development agency last week? Too bad, you lose. Pay up.

Just heard website accessibility was a thing yesterday? Too bad, you lose. Pay up.

The above three examples are an oversimplification of the actual process but they drive home my point: Strict liability means the only saving grace is compliance which means your website is currently a sitting duck as-is.

Corporations and small businesses alike are being targeted.

Obviously deep pockets are a target but you may wonder why small businesses are also pursued. It’s because they’re easy wins and can’t afford to put up much of a fight.

Get started as soon as possible. Remediating your current website will take some time.

If you do get sued, if you immediately remediate your website, you may be able to get the lawsuit dismissed on mootness (there’s no longer anything in dispute, i.e. plaintiffs are arguing your website is inaccessible but you’ve already made it accessible). This definitely does not mean you should wait to fix your website but it does mean you may have an out if you’re up for playing defense to a lawsuit.