ADA Website Services

Is your website compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Different organizations require different standards depending on whether your organization is a federal, state or local government agency or a private or public corporation among other factors. Whether or not you are legally required to comply with the ADA, following these guidelines is recommended for so many reasons, including:

  1. ADA web guidelines help all site visitors better understand your content and engage with your organization or business.
  2. ADA guidelines help assistive technology, like voice readers and braille readers, better communicate with visitors to your website. 
  3. The changes you implement to make your website more accessible also improve search engine optimization (SEO). 

As a standard on all websites developed by Covalent Logic, we include several hardcoded accessibility features such as ARIA labeling, semantic HTML and alt-text that make it easier for visitors to navigate the site via screen readers and other accessibility tools. These built-in features offer your website a higher level of built-in compliance. We also offer ADA accessibility improvement projects and oversight on websites that we have not developed. 

 

ADA COMPLIANCE

For each guideline, 55 testable success criteria are provided to allow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 to be used where requirements and conformance testing are necessary. Covalent Logic must ensure these success criteria are met on all of your website’s templates.

During the development of each template, manual accessibility testing will be conducted by our in-house ADA compliance specialist. This additional measure is implemented to guarantee that your website achieves compliance at the code level. 

 

ADA INTERPRETATION

ADA is a broad set of criteria to fulfill a broader range of approaches and nuances for consideration. ADA grading tools, such as Siteimprove, while highly reputable and effective, are limited in their ability to account for these details and may provide false positives or overlook genuine shortcomings. Ultimately, the spirit of the standards outlined in WCAG 2.2 is to ensure intuitive accessibility for those with physical or cognitive limitations. With this in mind, Covalent Logic can perform ADA testing and mitigate issues found on your website to ensure all page templates are consistent with WCAG 2.2.

On July 26, 1990, President George Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. The law seeks to ensure for people with disabilities rights such as equal opportunity in employment, full accessibility to government services, public accommodations, telecommunications; and meaningful methods of enforcing those rights. - Sharing the Dream. United States: The Commission, 2000.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN AN ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

While you may not be running a federal agency, it helps for organizations with federal grants to comply with federal laws and also create a statement that you follow ADA at the highest level. Covalent Logic can help you craft an accessibility statement for your website or modify your site to conform to the level of ADA compliance that you would like to apply.

Federal agencies must maintain a digital accessibility statement on their websites that provides (or links to) the following information.

  1. The accessibility standard applied to the website and any known limitations or alternative versions, as appropriate. Indicate which accessibility standards are used (e.g., WCAG 2.1 A/AA/AAA or WCAG 2.2 A/AA/AAA) where applicable.
    • List any known limitations or areas of the website that are inaccessible. 
      1. Content parts that have accessibility limitations
      2. A description of the issue that may be observed by users
      3. A brief explanation of why the issue occurs
      4. What to do in the meantime (i.e. who to contact or where to find accessibility alternatives)
    • List information about any known compatibility issues with certain assistive technologies or web browsers. Describe the environments (combinations of web browsers, assistive technologies and operating systems) that the content is not expected to work within.
    • Provide information about alternative options for accessing certain content.
    • Write information in simple language in an organized manner and in an easy to understand fashion.
    • This section of the accessibility statement should not be used for documenting agency’s conformance but rather to provide actionable information to the user to assist them in using websites and digital services. Provide useful, actionable information that the public would need to engage with the agency.
  2. The contact information for the Section 508 program manager (name and email address). Include the name and government email address of the agencywide Section 508 program manager. The purpose of providing a name and email address is to promote trust to your users through transparency and accountability.
    • Best Practices
      1. Setting expectations for when and why someone should contact the agencywide Section 508 program manager, such as which issues the public or an employee should contact the Section 508 program manager as opposed to using the public feedback mechanism or filing a complaint. 
      2. Do not use a general inbox or associated group inbox.
  3. Implement a public feedback mechanism that allows members of the public to report accessibility problems with agency websites and digital services to the agency’s Section 508 program, as well as relevant implementation teams.
    Use a mechanism, such as a web-based form, comment box or general inbox, to capture public feedback on accessibility problems with agency websites or digital services. Use of any web-based forms must comply with Section 508 standards.
    • Best Practices
      1. Communicate expectations on agency responses to public feedback, such as should a user expect an affirmative response. 
      2. Communicate clear timelines for remediation, if possible. 
      3. Give users multiple options for submitting feedback, such as phone, e-mail or a web-based feedback form.
      4. See Implementing a Public Feedback Mechanism for additional guidance.
  4. Provide instructions or a link to instructions for filing a formal Section 508 complaint. The reason for providing instructions is to give the public or an employee a clear and easy path for escalating and reporting an alleged violation of Section 508. The complaint process should be different from the public feedback mechanism process. The public feedback mechanism should be primarily designed to reduce administrative complaints by proactively soliciting feedback from users to identify and remediate potential accessibility issues with federal websites and digital services.
  5. Provide access to information about the agency’s reasonable accommodations procedures for federal employees and job applicants, consistent with Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act.. Agencies may redirect federal employees to internal-facing web pages for complete instructions and procedures.
  6. Include information and instructions on how to obtain telecommunications relay services, such as those provided by fcc.gov/trs.
    • Best Practices
      1. Offer information on how users can leverage these services. 
        1. For example, individuals with a hearing or speech disability can utilize telecommunications relay services (TRS) at no cost by using a videophone or dial 7-1-1.
  7. Link to any relevant, publicly-available organizational policies or procedures on digital accessibility. Include links to digital accessibility policies and any other relevant policies, such as System Lifecycle, Acquisition, Communications, Customer Experience/Service, Web Content Management and Training.
  8. Include the date the digital accessibility statement was last updated or reviewed, so it is clearly visible to users.
    • Best Practices
      1. Update this information whenever substantive changes occur to the policies, practices and procedures described in the accessibility statement.

Examples of Accessibility Statements

FAQs

A website accessibility checker is a digital tool used to quickly scan your website for on-page and technical accessibility issues and errors. These insights can be used as a starting point for bringing your website in line with recognized accessibility standards, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Website accessibility checkers are also a useful tool for preventing violations of U.S. accessibility legislation, like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
You can use both manual checks (verifying things yourself), as well as automated tools to find out if a website is ADA compliant. To do a manual check, you would utilize the website in a variety of different ways to ensure individuals who rely on accessibility tools can use the site appropriately. Manual checks would include navigating the website only using the keyboard (no mouse), using a screen reader, checking color contrast between text and background colors, reviewing link text to ensure it informs users what they are clicking through to, the alt text on images and checking video captions and transcripts. Automated checks are programs that scan a site for common accessibility issues to verify WCAG compliance.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, offers extensive civil rights protections for individuals with disabilities. The ADA aims to guarantee rights such as equal employment opportunities, full access to government services, public accommodations and telecommunications, along with effective methods for enforcing these rights.
It’s called the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the ADA did not originally explicitly mention the internet, the Department of Justice clarified in early 2024 that it applies to digital spaces as well. Titles II and III specifically apply to websites and digital content. For state and local governments, the DOJ gave deadlines for making their websites accessible. Those with a population of 50,000 or more must comply by April 24, 2026, while those with less than 50,000 have until April 26, 2027.
ADA is the law for corporations, businesses, government entities and other organizations. When it comes to your website, certain things you do to support Americans with disabilities can also improve other people’s experiences. Accessible websites provide a better experience for everyone and can even boost your search engine optimization. User experience became even more important with Google’s Core Web Vitals algorithm update in 2020. Who is ADA compliance for? There are several reasons for making your website ADA compliant. It ensures your website is accessible to people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers, keyboard navigation or other assistive technologies. It also makes your digital presence inclusive and usable by all, regardless of their physical or cognitive ability. ADA compliance also helps protect your business from legal risk.

Contact Covalent Logic to learn about your options for making your website more accessible.