Easier is Better
Have you ever used a wheelchair ramp yourself? Maybe not for a wheelchair, but for a suitcase, a cart, a bike, or a stroller? When we make things easier, it helps everyone.
Why Should a Website Be Accessible?
More potential clients. Fewer potential lawsuits.
About 1 in 4 U.S. adults live with a disability of some kind. This number doesn’t include those who live with a temporary disability due to accident or illness.
Not only is it the morally right thing to do to include as many people as possible, but do you really want to cut out 25% of your potential customers by not making your site accessible?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was law before websites existed. Recent court cases have shown that ADA requirements apply to websites just as much as they do to a physical business.
Laws Through Lawsuits
Here is some information on the lawsuits seeking to make websites accessible.
Supreme Court allows blind people to sue retailers if their websites are not accessible
In a potentially far-reaching move, the justices turned down an appeal from Domino’s and let stand a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling holding that the Americans With Disabilities Act protects access not just to restaurants and stores but also to the websites and apps of those businesses.
When Good Sites Go Bad: The Growing Risk of Website Accessibility Litigation
For a growing number of companies, websites are not only a valuable asset, but also a potential liability risk. In recent years, the number of website accessibility lawsuits has significantly increased, where plaintiffs with disabilities allege that they could not access websites because they were incompatible with assistive technologies, like screen readers for the visually impaired.