Audit your website for FREE with Auditor.
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility is a set of rules, behaviors, code standards, and design guidelines that are meant to allow people with disabilities, which comprise 20% of the world’s population, to use websites effectively.
To achieve this, the W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) has created the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), which are meant to explain and guide developers on how to make websites accessible. These guidelines have been adopted by governments around the world and are now a part of various legislations, such as the ADA, Section 508, EN 301549, and others.
The WCAG focuses mainly on three areas of accessibility: blind people using screen-readers (JAWS, NVDA), people with motor impairments that are using the keyboard, and a variety of other disabilities such as color blindness, epilepsy, a nd minor visual impairments that are mainly focused on the UI and design of the website (color contrasts, animations, fonts, etc.)
The WCAG 2.1 is a massive 1,000-page guidebook that encapsulates a range of disabilities that go from hindering internet use to making internet use impossible without adjustments. This spectrum actually comprises 20-25% of the general population depending on if we're going with the CDC or WHO.
There are many disabilities covered, and the primary categories that require attention are:
● blind people using screen-readers,
● the motor-impaired using only the keyboard to navigate,
● epilepsy, color blindness,
● cognitive and learning disabilities,
● visual impairments, and more.
The WCAG 2.1 at the AA level has been adopted as the global standard for web accessibility acting as the benchmark in legislation such as the ADA title 3, Section 508, AODA, EN 301549, and many others.
To achieve this, the W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) has created the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), which are meant to explain and guide developers on how to make websites accessible. These guidelines have been adopted by governments around the world and are now a part of various legislations, such as the ADA, Section 508, EN 301549, and others.
The WCAG focuses mainly on three areas of accessibility: blind people using screen-readers (JAWS, NVDA), people with motor impairments that are using the keyboard, and a variety of other disabilities such as color blindness, epilepsy, a nd minor visual impairments that are mainly focused on the UI and design of the website (color contrasts, animations, fonts, etc.)
The WCAG 2.1 is a massive 1,000-page guidebook that encapsulates a range of disabilities that go from hindering internet use to making internet use impossible without adjustments. This spectrum actually comprises 20-25% of the general population depending on if we're going with the CDC or WHO.
There are many disabilities covered, and the primary categories that require attention are:
● blind people using screen-readers,
● the motor-impaired using only the keyboard to navigate,
● epilepsy, color blindness,
● cognitive and learning disabilities,
● visual impairments, and more.
The WCAG 2.1 at the AA level has been adopted as the global standard for web accessibility acting as the benchmark in legislation such as the ADA title 3, Section 508, AODA, EN 301549, and many others.
About the Legislation
The exponential increase in demand for web accessibility has been a result of everyone coming to understand that business owners and people with disabilities have so much to mutually gain from this endeavor.
ADA compliance lawsuits are on nothing short of an intense rise. 200% year over year, with reports of 10’s of thousands of demand letters and lawsuits, targeting businesses of all sizes. At first, only the largest of enterprises and government institutions were legally pressured to become accessible, which makes sense. One of the most significant shifts in the legal climate was when the Department of Justice in the end of 2018 officially affirmed that all websites are considered public accommodations and therefore must comply with title 3 of the ADA. Many did not think for a second that it will ever happen to them, but that was not the case at all..
In fact, 2019 ended up tripling 2018 in the number of papers served. This means that for every business hour in 2019, a business was served for not being web accessible. You will also find that in almost every situation, the plaintiff wins the case on its merits because it’s a strict liability law and judges are often understandably sympathetic to people with disabilities who really only want equal rights. There is virtually no chance of winning an ADA case when you’re not compliant. The lawyers simply advise their clients to write a check since there is no point in fighting it. A quick example of what's going on as well: A visually impaired woman from Broward County, Florida sued 175 business owners several of which closed down as a result.
Now in the 2020 Covid era, we’re seeing those in quarantine have less access to physical locations and amenities, and they are finding more difficulty in accessing the web for essential services.
ADA compliance lawsuits are on nothing short of an intense rise. 200% year over year, with reports of 10’s of thousands of demand letters and lawsuits, targeting businesses of all sizes. At first, only the largest of enterprises and government institutions were legally pressured to become accessible, which makes sense. One of the most significant shifts in the legal climate was when the Department of Justice in the end of 2018 officially affirmed that all websites are considered public accommodations and therefore must comply with title 3 of the ADA. Many did not think for a second that it will ever happen to them, but that was not the case at all..
In fact, 2019 ended up tripling 2018 in the number of papers served. This means that for every business hour in 2019, a business was served for not being web accessible. You will also find that in almost every situation, the plaintiff wins the case on its merits because it’s a strict liability law and judges are often understandably sympathetic to people with disabilities who really only want equal rights. There is virtually no chance of winning an ADA case when you’re not compliant. The lawyers simply advise their clients to write a check since there is no point in fighting it. A quick example of what's going on as well: A visually impaired woman from Broward County, Florida sued 175 business owners several of which closed down as a result.
Now in the 2020 Covid era, we’re seeing those in quarantine have less access to physical locations and amenities, and they are finding more difficulty in accessing the web for essential services.
Our Solution
We combine manual adjustments and our accessibility tool, an artificial intelligence-powered machine learning software developed for successful process automation. This creates a simple, immediate, affordable, and compliant solution that serves as a mutual benefit for the business owner and people with disabilities, who only want equitable access to the Internet.
Our application handles the UI (user interface) and design accessibility requirements, allowing persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI and design to their individual needs. Our solution replaces the old-fashioned method of compromising your site’s design, in favor of accessibility.
This interface is fully supported in 14 different languages.
Considering our pricing model, which is a fraction of the cost of manual remediation, our solution is not only a no-brainer compared to the other alternatives in the market. It actually makes being accessible and compliant a no-brainer in general for the majority of businesses that otherwise wouldn’t have a reasonable solution.
Our application handles the UI (user interface) and design accessibility requirements, allowing persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI and design to their individual needs. Our solution replaces the old-fashioned method of compromising your site’s design, in favor of accessibility.
This interface is fully supported in 14 different languages.
Considering our pricing model, which is a fraction of the cost of manual remediation, our solution is not only a no-brainer compared to the other alternatives in the market. It actually makes being accessible and compliant a no-brainer in general for the majority of businesses that otherwise wouldn’t have a reasonable solution.
Accessibility Statement
It is important to note that one of the legal requirements of being ADA compliant is to have an accessibility statement that highlights your websites accessibility. This document on the right is our accessibility statement which also acts as a certificate of performance. It explains all the adjustments the solution has made to the website, browser and assistive technology compatibility and describes how to report feedback.
The statement will be personalized to the name of your domain and dated. It will be available to all users within the interface and sent to you via email, within 48 hours from the installation once the AI completes its process.
The statement will be personalized to the name of your domain and dated. It will be available to all users within the interface and sent to you via email, within 48 hours from the installation once the AI completes its process.
Our Process
1. Adjustments & Installation
First, we review your page's metadata one by one, then we install our JavaScript code.2. Interface
Then, your website instantly displays our accessibility interface that allows every visitor to personally adjust your website's design and UI to their individual need or disability, without changing it for all other site visitors. Users can choose a disability profile like “Vision Impaired Profile” and simultaneously activate all relevant adjustments. Alternatively, or in addition to the profiles, users can enable singular adjustments like increasing font sizes, change color contrasts, stop animations, and more.3. AI Process
Simultaneously, the AI kicks in, and in up to 48 hours, it is finished, and the website is accessible and compliant. This is also when you receive the accessibility statement to your email.4. Maintenance
Our biggest advantage is the automatic maintenance. The AI re-scans the website every 24 hours, making sure that any changes or additions are also being remediated.Monthly accessibility compliance audits.5. Monthly accessibility compliance reports.
The statement will be reinforced with monthly accessibility compliance audits, as a proof and track record of ongoing efforts of your website's compliance.Ultimately, you can forget about compliance issues; everything else is done automatically, even for websites that update daily.
