On your website, it’s still important that your company addresses how best to prevent lawsuits against a company’s website under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These lawsuits often claim that the website is not “ ADA compliant.” However, for most types of websites, there are no clear “standards” for measuring ADA compliance. What is known as the WCAG has not been held to be a, or the, required standard for U.S. businesses, and some jurisdictions have held that some or even all websites are not under the ADA. Your web developer may say that your website is ADA compliant, or that they know how to make it ADA compliant, but they generally do not know how best to prevent ADA website claim, or if your website is even under the ADA, and they almost always focus on WCAG compliance, which as noted is not the required standard although it can be a consideration. To address website lawsuit claim prevention, or handling a claim, businesses need to be working with an attorney who understands ADA website lawsuit prevention, who can work with both the business and it’s the tech team
Why can’t your web developer handle ADA compliance issues?
Your web developer is probably good at their job and is likely to have at least some background in ADA compliance issues. However, they are not a legal professional and may not be up to date on all the latest changes or cases involving ADA compliance on the web.
In some jurisdictions, Businesses are required to make their websites accessible to persons with disabilities and there are different ways to achieve these goals and at the same time prevent ADA website claims and lawsuits. Web developers tend to focus only on WCAG compliance, which is not been held to be the legal standard in the United States for private businesses, and web developers in almost all cases, are not reading and following the various court decisions and Department of Justice discussions.