May 14 2017 Website ADA Conformance Infographic Website ADA Conformance Web accessibility allows people with disabilities to access the web. Learn why website ADA conformance is an important topic for every website owner and what you need to do, now, to make your website conformant. Facts to Know 57 million American adults are living with a physical or mental disability (that’s 1 in 5 Americans) 90% of commercial websites are not ADA conformant 38% of Americans with disabilities surf the web (~20% of them say web browsing is difficult) 240+ ADA-related lawsuits in 2016 (compare to ~60 in 2015) WCAG 2.0 defines the current web content accessibility guidelines Types of Disabilities Visual: 4.6% ​Mobility: 13% Cognitive: 10.6% Independent Living: 6.5% Self-Care: 3.6% Why Make a Website Accessible? Provide equal opportunity to people with disabilities Increased audience reach Better user experience Search engine optimization support Ensure compliance with federal standards Accessibility Timeline 1990: Americans with Disability Act (ADA) becomes law 2008: Updated standards released for accessible design 2010: Communications & Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) requires video content to be accessible to users with a disability 2014: New web standards anticipated to be released, but delayed 2018: Projected date for new web standards to be released Supporting Website ADA Conformance Run regular site scans for accessibility issues Train staff on ADA conformance best practices Confirm all posted documents meet ADA conformance standards Tips for ADA Conformant Design & Development Make sure website is navigable using only a keyboard Add alternative text to images Add table data to describe tables to screen readers Provide a transcript for audio and video files Structure your web page intuitively using CSS layout and styles Confirm text size and contrast against standards Include a link to Website Accessibility policy page from every page of your site Make all PDFs conformant to guidelines Create way for people to contact if they have accessibility issues Identify issues caused by third-party vendors Manually evaluate false positives from site scans Continue to run conformance scans and fix errors as the site grows and changes Sources Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Pew Research Center | World Health Organization | WCAG 2.0 guidelines Legal Watch Regs & Legislation Website Compliance posted by Michelle Brown VP of Sales & Marketing Share this article ZAG Interactive is a full-service digital agency in Glastonbury, CT, offering website design, development, marketing and digital strategy to clients nationwide. See current job openings.