Americans with Disabilities Act

When you work in digital accessibility, you hear a lot of things from customers, designers, developers, and agencies that just aren’t correct. Most are genuine misconceptions, but that doesn’t mean they’re harmless. At best, organizations can end up overspending on accessibility. But they also let organizations psych themselves out of pursuing greater accessibility out of fear that it will be too expensive or too difficult. And at worst, orgs might think they are accessibility conformant but are actually increasing their legal risk while missing out on the business benefits of digital accessibility.

Take a look at your town’s website. I was checking out my local township website to get some election related information last week. And it’s kind of awful. For everyone. But especially for users with disabilities.

If you are working in the digital space, you may have heard references to a VPAT and wondered whether you need one. The answer to that question depends on what kind of digital experience you are producing as well as who your intended customers are.

How are agencies doing on accessibility? The short answer is not great. For digital agency owners, executives, and practitioners, there has been increased attention on digital accessibility (sometimes shortened to a11y) over the past few years. But out in the wild, it’s hard to see the impact.

Maybe. Part of the problem in answering this questions is that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t mention (let alone define) web accessibility.