By Nate Gengler
The term “ADA Compliant” tends to send chills up webmaster’s spines. With hundreds of lawsuits being filed in virtually every industry, there is a sense of urgency for companies to quickly ensure all Americans have equal access to their sites.
The Department of Justice is currently working to create strict, legal, regulations that will federally mandate specific acts of compliance. Until these are released, companies are left to follow guidelines set out by the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines second draft (WCAG 2.0).
The four principles that provide a foundation for web accessibility, according to the W3C are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Often times web developers, when striving for the best user experience design, fail to take these guidelines into consideration. This not only alienates potential customers, it dramatically infringes on the day to day quality of life for these users.
Nowadays, the majority of personal services, such as banking, shopping, filing claims, booking travel, enrolling in classes and much more, are performed exclusively online.
When sites are incompatible with assistive technology or don’t follow the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, they deny people equal access to some of the most basic aspects of modern living.
ADA accessibility standards seek to ensure all users are able to effectively navigate and utilize all sites on the internet. Maintaining the highest grade of AAA compliance, will maximize your organization’s traffic, protect you from any future litigation, and provide equal access for Americans with disabilities.
Web developers and the clients they serve have a responsibility protect the internet as a place of inclusion. People with disabilities cannot be considered a fringe case and must be built into the process of every project.