Does the ADA Apply to Websites?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed in 1990 to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. Title III covers “places of public accommodation” — and federal courts have consistently ruled this includes websites.
If your business serves the public — as a restaurant, medical practice, retailer, service provider, or any other type of business — your website is almost certainly covered. In 2024, the Department of Justice formally established WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the legal standard.
📌 2024 DOJ Final Rule
The DOJ finalized regulations in April 2024 establishing WCAG 2.1 AA as the accessibility standard. Federal courts are now applying this standard broadly to all public-facing business websites — not just government sites.
Who Actually Gets Sued?
The misconception is that only big companies get targeted. The reality is the opposite. Small businesses are easier targets because they lack in-house legal teams, are more likely to settle quickly, and are less likely to have proactive compliance programs in place.
The most frequently targeted industries include:
What Is WCAG 2.1 AA?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines — the international standard for making websites accessible to people with disabilities. Level AA is the middle tier and the one courts and regulators use as the compliance benchmark.
WCAG 2.1 AA requires that websites be:
Common violations include: missing alt text on images, poor color contrast, unlabeled form fields, no keyboard navigation support, and missing page structure (headings). Our free scan checks for all of these automatically.
What Is “Good-Faith Effort” and Why Does It Matter?
Perfect compliance is extremely difficult — even the most sophisticated companies have accessibility issues. Courts consistently recognize this. A documented good-faith effort dramatically changes litigation outcomes in your favor.
What courts look for as good-faith effort:
- An accessibility widget on your site giving users control over contrast, text size, and navigation
- A published accessibility statement page explaining your commitment and process
- A clear contact path for users to report accessibility issues
- Regular documented accessibility scanning with saved results
- Evidence you are actively working to address identified issues
ADAWebPro’s Basic and Full Protection plans are specifically designed to establish and document exactly this kind of good-faith effort for your business.
How Do Plaintiffs Find Vulnerable Sites?
Attorneys use automated scanning tools to sweep large numbers of websites looking for WCAG violations. These are the same type of tools we use for our free scan. If your site has obvious violations — missing alt text, poor contrast, unlabeled forms — it can be identified as a target in seconds.
The process is largely algorithmic: scan → identify violations → send demand letter. The lower your violation count and the stronger your documented compliance effort, the less attractive your site is as a target.
What Happens After a Demand Letter?
Most ADA website cases settle before trial. A typical demand letter asks for $5,000–$20,000. If you fight it, legal fees alone can reach $15,000–$30,000 before resolution. If you lose, settlements average $25,000–$50,000 plus attorney fees.
The cost of protection ($39–$149/mo) compared to the cost of a lawsuit ($25,000+) makes the math extremely simple.
Find out where your site stands.
Run our free WCAG 2 AA scan. You’ll see your error count, ADA indicators, and PageSpeed scores in under 60 seconds. No signup required.