Is your website or software vendor “ADA compliant”? What is web accessibility, and why does it matter? Which rules and standards, if any, apply to your organization?
Perhaps you’ve asked yourself some of these questions, or someone else has asked you.
Hopefully I can help shed some light on these subjects and dispel a few myths. Personally, as both an attorney and a software engineer, accessibility is a fascinating intersection of law and technology. For Nutrislice, our journey to becoming the market leader for providing accessible technology that connects food providers with their customers has been a lot of fun and provided some great learning experiences.
A quick history on ADA before we dive in
In 1990, congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This legislation prohibits discrimination based on disability and seeks to ensure that people with disabilities will be provided the same opportunities and access as everyone else. The ADA did not directly address website or software accessibility, which makes sense -- the very first versions of the web and HTML would be launched the following year.
Fast forward to 2018: the state of ADA compliance and accessibility laws
As more and more communication and commerce happens over the internet, website accessibility and compliance is critically important. Although the ADA vaguely addresses the accessibility of information for people with disabilities, when it comes to software and the web, congress has never enacted any new legislation to bring the ADA into the 21st century. The Department of Justice, which administers the ADA, has also not released any rules or official guidelines for creating ADA-compliant websites.* But... if you think that the lack of any clear rules or standards under the ADA means you have nothing to worry about when it comes to website compliance, don’t stop reading yet!
As often happens with unspecific or ambiguous laws, the federal courts have had to decide civil lawsuits for web accessibility under ADA. In fact, in 2017 alone, there were more than 800 federal cases filed against private and public institutions that dealt with web accessibility! So, while the the law seems far from clear or settled, the liability risk is real.
So, if there are no official ADA standards, and people are losing lawsuits over ADA compliance, what should we do?
The governing body of the world wide web (the “W3C”) has developed a detailed set of technical guidelines for building accessible websites, entitled the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” (WCAG). Federal courts, Section 508/504 guidelines, and non-profit accessibility advocates have all held up the WCAG “AA” technical standard as THE accessibility standard to follow to be compliant. In other words, you’ll want to make sure your websites and software vendors meet WCAG 2.0 AA (2.1 AA in the future).
Additionally, if you manage a website for the federal government or your organization receives federal funding, Section 508 and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act also apply to you. The good news is that if you’re meeting WCAG 2.0 AA, then you’re meeting the Section 504/508 requirements, and you probably don’t have to worry when it comes to ADA compliance.
How does Nutrislice provide accessibility to end users and peace of mind to food service providers?
Nutrislice software is built with accessibility as a core part of its platform. The software is built to WCAG 2.0 AA standards and meets ADA and Section 508/504 requirements. Our developers are knowledgeable about the standards and use tools and techniques that check and ensure accessibility. We also have our software audited by third-party accessibility experts like The Center for Persons with Disabilities - WebAIM, to ensure we’re current. At Nutrislice, we believe that the investment in building accessible software the right way is worth the peace of mind for our clients and the accessible experience for all our users.
Fiction. Some third-party software plug-ins or overlays may claim to help patch over a website with a veneer of accessibility. But these are no substitute for just building things accessible, the right way. While accessibility assessment tools can be helpful during development to identify any hidden issues with a web page, reliance on third-party plugins or overlays is not something you’ll see from the best software providers, whose sites are seamlessly accessible.
Nutrislice is committed to making the content on our websites and applications directly compliant, accessible (including meeting WCAG 2.0 AA), and user-friendly for everyone.
Fiction. There is no such thing as “ADA certification” of websites. The government and the World Wide Web Consortium do not certify websites for accessibility, provide certification standards, or sanction any commercially offered “certifications”. The laws and WCAG 2.0 standards make it clear that ultimately every website provider needs to be responsible for understanding and meeting the standards. This applies differently to every website, depending on the technology - there is no one-size-fits-all.
Nutrislice takes a two-fold approach. (1) We invest in building our software to be compliant and accessible from the ground up. It is part of our culture and processes. (2) We work with non-profit third party accessibility experts to periodically evaluate and provide feedback on our sites, which we incorporate directly into our code.
Fact. Compliance standards are NOT outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the DOJ has not provided any rules or regulations for web accessibility under the ADA. However, courts have interpreted that the ADA does apply to websites and held businesses liable for not providing accessible web pages. Organizations are encouraged to follow the WCAG 2.0 guidelines outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium, or to work with a qualified software vendor who can provide that compliance and peace of mind.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment or email us at accessibility@nutrislice.com.
*The DOJ started down the path of creating regulations for ADA web accessibility, but in 2017 that effort faltered and fizzled for the foreseeable future. They’ve also stated in a letter to congress that while the ADA does apply to websites, the businesses and entities behind the websites should have flexibility in complying with the law and not be held to a specific standard at this time.