
If you are in the US or if your website is developed for the US audience, then you may have heard about ADA 508 compliance.
The ADA act was first passed in 1990 by the US federal government to prohibit discrimination based on the disability of people.
These disabilities include both mental and physical conditions. For instance, you may have come across wheelchair ramps and automatic door openers for people with a physical disability.
However, the ADA compliance that we will discuss today will be for websites. Under this ADA compliance for websites, it is mandatory for websites to be accessible to all.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a compliance regulation published by Departments of Justice in September 2010. This compliance was enacted to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. In simple terms, ADA compliance ensures websites follow a set of agreed accessibility standards.
Beyonce Knowles was sued by a blind woman for not being able to access her website beyonce.com without the help of a sighted companion.
Last year alone there were around 1000 lawsuits filed related to website accessibility. Some of the industries affected were eCommerce, restaurants, FMCG. Even big brands like Nike, Hershey’s and Burger King were affected.
The number of lawsuits filed against failing to comply with ADA compliance is alarming. It is best advised for companies to ensure their website is ADA compliant to avoid such drastic consequences.
Apart from legal ramifications, it is a smart business decision to make sure your website is ADA compliant.
You don’t want potential customers to leave your website just because you are not following the ADA standards.
According to the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), around 54 million Americans have a disability. And this is a huge number. Think ADA as another form of SEO. Here, you optimize your website for people with disabilities instead of optimizing for keywords.
Your website needs ADA compliance if you fall under any of the following categories.
Your site might already be meeting the standard else it is easy to achieve it with the help of a developer if you know what needs to be done.
For example, you have to make sure all your images have alt-text. This makes it easy for visually impaired people to access the website with the help of screen reader or braille display.
To know whether your website is ADA compliant, a combination of manual testing and test automation is recommended.
There is plenty of software available for you to check the ADA compliance. WAVE is a popular and good tool to check the accessibility of the website.
Though there are tools available at your disposal, it is always advisable to test your website with the help of an experienced QA company as they will have the necessary tools and expertise.
Below is the list of popular accessibility tools available at your disposal.
Now, in order to ensure whether your website is ADA compliant, WCAG (Website Content Accessibility Guidelines) has set guidelines for websites.
The WCAG is part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet.
According to WCAG, website content should be:
Now, in order to ensure whether your website is ADA compliant, WCAG (Website Content Accessibility Guidelines) has set guidelines for websites.
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The WCAG is part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet.
According to WCAG, website content should be:
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has set standards for the World Wide Web and its accessibility. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) was created by W3C, which is like Section 508. The WCAG 2.1 is the recently updated version of the standard.
Though it might seem as not a big deal, there are benefits for keeping your website compliant.
The goal of test cases is to make sure the behavior and expected results are same. Here is a sample test case template to give you an idea on how accessibility compliance test cases are written.
Periodically testing your website for ADA compliance is necessary to avoid unnecessary hassle and possible legal issues.
There are many other reasons listed above to keep a tab on ADA and WCAG guidelines. To conclude, ADA compliance means, an accessible website for everyone, increased sales and revenue for your business.
By Indium
By Indium
By Uma Raj
By Uma Raj
By Abishek Balakumar
Pradeep is a Content Writer and Digital Marketing Specialist at Indium Software with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry.