Web accessibility lawsuits against US businesses keep climbing, and most owners have no idea if their site is exposed. The good news is you can run basic checks yourself. Here's how to start.
Key takeaways
- ADA claims increasingly apply to websites, and lawsuits are rising fast.
- WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical standard US courts look to.
- You can self-audit contrast, alt text, keyboard access, and forms today.
- Overlay widgets are not a reliable fix; real remediation is code-level.
Why ADA Applies to Websites
The Americans with Disabilities Act predates the modern web, but US courts have increasingly treated business websites as places of public accommodation covered by Title III. That means a customer who can't use your site because of a disability may have grounds for a claim, and thousands of these suits are filed every year against US businesses of all sizes.
Small and mid-sized companies are not exempt. Many demand letters target ordinary local businesses because their sites are easy to test and often clearly inaccessible. The cost of settling, even when the fix would have been cheap, is what makes this worth your attention now rather than after a letter arrives.
- Courts often treat business sites as public accommodations
- Thousands of web accessibility suits are filed yearly
- Small businesses are frequent, easy targets
The WCAG Standard to Aim For
There is no single federal rule that spells out exactly what a compliant website looks like, so courts and settlements have converged on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG. The practical target is WCAG 2.1 at the AA level, which is the version most settlement agreements name and most auditors test against.
WCAG is organized around four principles: content should be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. You don't need to memorize the spec, but knowing that AA is the bar helps you set a clear goal and evaluate any vendor who claims to make you compliant.
- WCAG is the de facto accessibility standard
- Aim for version 2.1, level AA
- Perceivable, operable, understandable, robust
How to Self-Audit Your Site
You can catch a surprising number of issues without any special tools. Try navigating your whole site using only the keyboard, using Tab to move and Enter to activate. If you can't reach the menu, complete a form, or see where you are, neither can many users. Then check color contrast on text, add or review alt text on meaningful images, and make sure form fields have visible labels.
Free tools speed this up. Browser extensions like axe or WAVE flag missing alt text, low contrast, and unlabeled fields automatically. Screen reader testing with the built-in VoiceOver on Mac or NVDA on Windows shows how a blind user actually experiences your pages. Run these on your key pages first: home, contact, and checkout.
- Navigate the whole site with the keyboard only
- Check contrast, alt text, and form labels
- Use free tools like axe, WAVE, and a screen reader
How to Remediate What You Find
Once you have a list of problems, fix them at the source. That usually means editing your templates and code: adding descriptive alt text, raising contrast to meet the ratios WCAG requires, labeling form inputs, and ensuring every interactive element works by keyboard. Structure matters too, so use proper headings and landmarks so screen readers can navigate.
Be skeptical of one-click overlay widgets that promise instant compliance. They are widely criticized, have themselves been named in lawsuits, and often break the very assistive technology they claim to help. Real remediation is code-level and ongoing, since every new page and feature can introduce new barriers.
- Fix issues in your templates and code, not with a widget
- Add alt text, labels, contrast, and keyboard support
- Treat accessibility as ongoing, not one-time
How NeoDimensional Helps
NeoDimensional is a US-based UI/UX design and software development agency, founded by Guljar Hosen. We audit sites against WCAG 2.1 AA, remediate at the code level, and design new sites to be accessible from the start so accessibility isn't bolted on later.
If you're worried about a demand letter or just want peace of mind, book a 30-minute call. We'll tell you where you stand and what real remediation would take.
- Full audits against WCAG 2.1 AA
- Code-level remediation, not overlays
- Accessible design built in from day one
