ADA website compliance for private businesses (Title III)

Title II and Section 504 now have a rule, a standard and a date. Title III of the ADA, which covers private businesses open to the public, has none of those for websites. That does not make it safe to wait. The obligation already exists, and demand letters and lawsuits are brought under current law, with no countdown involved.

Where the law stands

• The DOJ position. The Department of Justice has long said Title III applies to the websites of businesses that are places of public accommodation. Its 2022 guidance on web accessibility and the ADA describes a flexible approach and points to standards such as WCAG as helpful.
• No technical standard in the regulations. Title III does not say "meet WCAG 2.2 AA", so a business is judged on whether people with disabilities can use the site, not on a checklist.
• Courts differ. Courts have disagreed about whether a website must be tied to a physical location to be covered. That makes the risk vary by region, not go away.
• State laws add exposure. Some states, California among them, allow additional claims and damages under their own civil rights laws.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you receive a demand letter or complaint, talk to a lawyer who handles accessibility claims.

Why WCAG 2.2 AA is the working benchmark

In practice, settlements, consultants, procurement teams and the public-sector rules all use WCAG. Level AA is the target nearly everyone means. Building to WCAG 2.2 AA gives you the current version and covers the 2.1 AA standard that the government rules name, so you will not need to redo the work if your customers include public bodies.

A word on overlays and widgets

Some vendors sell a script that adds a toolbar to your site and promises compliance. A widget does not repair the underlying code, many screen reader users find overlays get in the way, and regulators have acted against an overlay vendor over claims that its product guaranteed compliance. Treat a widget as, at most, an extra, never as the fix. Fixing the source of each issue is what holds up.

A practical plan

1. Get a baseline. Request a free audit to see which WCAG criteria your site fails and on how many pages.
2. Fix the high-impact items. Checkout, contact forms, navigation and anything that blocks a task come first. Missing form labels, low contrast, missing alt text, empty links and buttons are the usual culprits.
3. Test by hand. Use only a keyboard, then a screen reader, on your key journeys.
4. Add a feedback route. Publish an accessibility statement with an email address and a response time, and answer the messages you get.
5. Control new content. Train the people who publish pages and images, and check third-party plugins before you install them.
6. Monitor. A site that was clean in March is rarely clean in September. Schedule scans so regressions surface quickly.
7. Keep records. Dated scans, fix history and your statement show good-faith, continuing effort if anyone ever asks.