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Importance Of Web Accessibility For Your Law Firm’s Digital Marketing Strategy
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Importance Of Web Accessibility For Your Law Firm’s Digital Marketing Strategy

As of 2010, one in every five Americans, or approximately 56.7 million, lives with a disability. So it’s not uncommon for people with disabilities to struggle with adapting to and using cutting-edge gadgetry. In addition, as more people look for legal professionals online, it has become more critical than ever to develop accessible websites for law firms.

So as a lawyer, your duties involve making technological resources accessible to people of all abilities and understanding what ADA for websites entails. Before reaching out to an ADA Compliance Company, learning all about it is a wise idea. To help you understand why web accessibility for law firms is critical, we will share everything there is to know about it.

What Exactly Is Web Content Accessibility?

People living with different disabilities process and interpret information differently. When a website is accessible, users with impairments can navigate it the same way as those who utilize keyboard-based or point-and-click methods.

It is vital to provide content that appeals to all the senses to make your website accessible to people with disabilities. All of your site’s features, including consultation requests and invoice payments, must be accessible to all users, with no exception. Web accessibility remediation may include –

  • Use “alt” text on photos or image files to help the visually impaired navigate your site.
  • Use of descriptive anchor text to facilitate site navigation.
  • Captions that appear in time with the audio in a video for the deaf and hard of hearing.

5 Reasons Why Web Content Accessibility Matters For Your Law Firm

When you become an attorney, you are responsible for representing individuals who cannot defend themselves in court. To offer equal service to everyone, you must also assist customers who may have disabilities by providing them with accessible, user-friendly technology.

There are numerous other reasons why the importance of web accessibility for your law firm is immeasurable. These include –

  1. Web Accessibility Helps You Reach More People

Accessible websites increase your potential customer base. For example, the United States is home to 40 million disabled people. In addition, research by Pew Research reveals that twenty-five percent of American adults consider themselves disabled.

All of these people in the United States will need legal assistance at some point in their lives. Whether it’s to create a will, defend themselves against criminal charges, or file a lawsuit due to an injury. Put another way, almost everyone using Google may look for a lawyer someday in their lives. So why not expand your law firm’s reach?

  1. Reduced Risk Of legal action

Legal action is something no company wants to deal with, and no company wants to chance to have to pay for legal bills. One accessibility complaint investigation can cost up to $10,000, while a lawsuit defense and settlement can cost up to $350,000. Additionally, The number of lawsuits involving disabilities has climbed by almost 1,100% since 2016.

This number should continue to rise in the future as well. Therefore, if you fail to comply with accessibility regulations, it could significantly harm your company.

  1. Improve Your Brand’s Strength

Making your web content accessible to people with disabilities can only help your brand. A website may be the best way to demonstrate how much your company values and respects all of its clients. Making your web content accessible to people with disabilities also suggests you’ve done some research into industry standards.

Companies with solid ethical cultures tend to attract more loyal customers and reliable business allies. However, your company’s image may suffer if your website is challenging to use for people with disabilities.

  1. Boost Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Websites that are easy for people to use will also improve your site’s visibility in search engine results. Why? Because accessibility is directly related to SEO (SEO).

Both search engine optimization and user-friendliness are interrelated. For example, websites that are easy to use and understand by individuals of all abilities have lower bounce rates.

  1. Boost Usability

The goal of web content accessibility is to ensure that people with physical or mental impairments can fully take advantage of available resources. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider accessibility directly linked with usability, as it contributes to a positive user experience.

People who have issues using a mouse or keyboard will significantly benefit from this standard, but everyone will enjoy its advantages. By organizing your site’s navigational elements per this standard, visitors will have a simpler time finding the information they need.

Conclusion

Web accessibility remediation is a hot issue for law firms nowadays. If you don’t have a clear idea about what ADA for websites entails, web accessibility development for your law firm can become difficult. So we share the topic of accessible website development in this article.

We hope you understand how critical web accessibility for law firms is. Thanks for reading till now.

Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

How Does Web Accessibility Save Your Firm From Litigation?

In this era of technology, everyone should be able to access the internet, regardless of their disabilities. ADA for websites and web accessibility redemption vouches to make your website inclusive to everyone worldwide. Besides the obvious ethical obligations, an accessible website has various other benefits too!

For instance, web accessibility development for your website can actually save your law firm from litigation. How? Keep reading to find out!

What Are The Requirements For A Website To be Accessible?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 is a comprehensive set of standards for making websites accessible for people with disabilities. It consists of 13 guidelines that can fall under four concepts:

  • Perceivability: The website should present information and parts of the user interface to users in a way they can understand.
  • The navigation and user interface components must be operational.
  • Understandability: The content and navigation of the user interface must be straightforward.
  • Robustness: The content has to be solid enough to be reliably interpreted by a wide range of user interfaces, including those using assistive technologies.

Legal Requirements Of Web Accessibility

Surprisingly, no new laws have passed in recent years regarding website accessibility. The increase in litigation is not the result of a shift in the legal landscape. However, the number of ADA lawsuits filed and won against major corporations in 2016 increased from a handful before 2017 to between one thousand and two thousand in 2018.

Corporations that were the targets of the investigation include big names like Fox News, Harvard, Nike, Burger King, and Domino’s Pizza, among others. The WCAG specifies two distinct kinds of case causes:

  • Federal legislation (Section 508 article): This law requires all government-run websites to meet WCAG 2.0 AA standards. This is not a concern for your company.
  • Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act: This is federal legislation that requires all government agencies to take measures to eliminate disability-based discrimination.Given that the ADA is not specifically about the internet or how things should look online, there is no legally defined WCAG level within the ADA.

Since the “Section 508 article” referenced WCAG 2.0 AA, lawyers have begun using it in cases   as the only criterion for determining whether or not a website is accessible to people with disabilities.

Possible Legal Consequences For Not Adhering To Web Accessibility

The risk of a lawsuit or demand letter increases if your website contains features restricting users with disabilities from utilizing them. Unfortunately, plaintiffs cannot seek monetary damages in federal cases brought under the ADA. Therefore, a plaintiff’s only options are to have their legal bills covered and make the inaccessible area accessible again.

So, what legal consequences can you face for not adhering to the web accessibility laws? Let’s take a look:

Lawsuits Regarding Web Accessibility Is On the Rise!

UsableNet has released its 2021 results report on virtual ADA cases in the US, and the trends it reveals are undoubtedly worth noting. First, in 2021, there were 15% more lawsuits than in the previous year.

About 10 cases were filed daily, for a total of a staggering 4,055 cases! The tally includes all federal and state cases that mention an ADA violation. Remember that the figures presented here account for lawsuits, not demand letters.

Notices Of Demand

UsableNet’s study does not include demand letters threatening legal action and asking for a quick settlement for defendant firms. However, it’s common knowledge that demand letters often exceed federal and state cases.

Although this strategy has been linked to “ambulance-chasing” by some, it is grounded in the law because all websites must be freely accessible to all users. In most cases, small and medium-sized enterprises receive demand letters with settlement amounts in the $5,000–$20,000 range. Of course, this cost does not include the cost of remediation.

Multiple Legal Actions

You can still be the target of another lawsuit or demand letter even if you have already been sued or received one. ADA lawsuits are common for many businesses. It’s not a rare sight for a company to face legal action from various parties concerning its website and mobile application.

Unfortunately, no matter how often you settle a lawsuit or demand letter, if your online properties remain inaccessible, you still risk receiving more. Moreover, settling exposes you more because you practically admit that your website is inaccessible. This is why we need to take steps to make all digital assets more accessible.

Conclusion

Web accessibility remediation opens opportunities for your firm’s growth and protects it from litigation fines. In this article, we clarify your confusion about web accessibility development for those confused about ADA for websites.

Consult an expert web accessibility company to protect your website against litigation and maintain your finances. Thanks for reading!

Can Your Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Can Your Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?

ADA website accessibility compliance is more than just a tool for your website. It is a requirement that you need to adhere to in order to keep your website accessible to all users. This leads many people to wonder can your websites be sued for ADA compliance? It is a common question by business owners and managers who are just becoming aware of the issue.

The goal of ADA compliance is to ensure equal access to services and a user-friendly experience for disabled people. So, by making your website ADA compliant, you do not discriminate against differently abled people. However, there is more to ADA compliance than we know. It is an obligatory requirement for websites to follow according to the Supreme Court decision.

Can Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?

The short answer is, yes, your websites can be sued for ADA compliance. Making your website ADA accessible is now a part of complying with the law. If you do not develop your websites to be ADA accessible, then you are not obeying the law. In that case, your website or organization could face an ADA lawsuit.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1989. This act deals with several provisions and different types of accessibility issues to support disabled people. According to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act,all websites of federal agencies have to be ADA accessible. This includes a large majority of firms and organizations being ADA compliant.

Additionally, the 2019 Supreme Court decision states that ADA compliance is mandatory for a firm’s websites. So, if a company, firm, or organization does not have an ADA accessible website, they are defying the Supreme Court. This can result in penalties or even lawsuits. In summary, yes, your websites can be sued for ADA compliance.

A prominent example of this event is the case of Robles vs. Domino’s Pizza. The fast-food chain did not have an ADA-accessible website. So, a screen reader couldn’t place an order on the website. Hence, Domino’s Pizza was sued by a blind plaintiff. They were ordered by the court to pay $4,000 as well as all legal fees incurred by the plaintiff.

So, this case shows us that without ADA compliance, your websitecan become a threat to your company. Whereas, websites are an asset to the organization that can help bring in new customers and increase profitability. Without being ADA compliant, your organization will fail to fulfill this. Instead, you will be under the threat of an ADA lawsuit.

What Can You Do To Prevent ADA Lawsuit?

The first step to preventing ADA lawsuits from happening is to make sure that your website is ADA accessible. Ensuring web ADA accessibility will mitigate your risks of getting an ADA lawsuit. Additionally, it will also improve your website’s user experience and generate better profitability.

There are multiple steps that you can follow to make your website ADA compliant. Make sure to go through the ADA accessibility checklist to ensure that you are following all of them. You need to get the necessary awareness and education first. In that way, you can understand the requirements, advantages, and obligations of ADA compliance.

ADA compliance for your website can be done in multiple ways. Using alt text is a part of making your website ADA compliant. Alt text, or alternative text, conveys the message of an image to the screen reader. It is especially important for users who are using assistive devices to use the website.

Providing video transcripts can be a great addition. Similar to alt texts, it helps screen readers go through the contents of an audio or a video. Not only that, but all users can navigate through it and understand it better with video transcripts. Correct use of fonts, headlines, sub-points, color contrasts, ARIA landmarks, etc. is an important part of ADA accessibility.

So, make sure to follow the ADA accessibility guidelines and checklists to make your website ADA compliant. Similarly, you can also get the expertise of different firms that provide auditing, testing, and ensure ADA accessibility on your websites.

Conclusion

ADA accessibility is a necessity for your websites. You can ensure a better service and user experience on your websites by following the ADA compliance guidelines. Thus, you will be able to provide the best services to all customers.

Contact us to learn more about ADA website accessibility.

ADA Compliance Website For Lawyers: A Complete Guide
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

ADA Compliance Website For Lawyers: A Complete Guide

ADA compliance is an obligatory feature for websites. When it comes to legal advocates like lawyers, ADA compliance becomes much more important. It refers to the use of an ADA compliance website checklist to ensure website accessibility. It focuses on ensuring equal service and usage for everyone. It prevents the possibility of discrimination.

Web accessibility for law firms is crucial. With ADA web design, you can ensure web accessibility remediation. On the other hand, without accessible websites for law firms, lawyers may face several penalties. Hence, ADA for websites is an important tool for lawyers and website owners.

Why Do Lawyers Need ADA Compliance Websites?

If you are new to the concept of web accessibility for law firms and lawyers, ADA web accessibility can be confusing for you. Naturally, you might wonder why lawyers need ADA compliance websites. In simple words, having an ADA-compliant website gives you numerous advantages. But without ADA compliance, lawyers may face many negative consequences.

Lawyers need ADA compliance websites for multiple reasons. For starters, when lawyers use ADA-accessible websites, they can reach a larger audience. This can be crucial for their legal requirements, serving a larger demographic, and spreading awareness to the general masses. This helps them to create a better and more inclusive brand image.

At the same time, the public can have better access when lawyers use ADA websites. A large majority of these general people suffer from one or many forms of disability. So, these disabled people with physical constraints can get the best legal assistance with ADA-accessible websites. Whereas, without ADA-accessible features, this could not be possible.

Focusing on digital accessibility is vital for public service providers like lawyers. Instead of focusing on personal preference or aesthetic design, the priority should be ADA accessibility.

Because, at the end of the day, lawyers cannot provide the best service and usability to all of their users unless their websites are ADA-compliant and prevent discriminating against a large share of the general population.

Risks For Lawyers For Not Having ADA Accessibility

As we know by now, having an ADA-accessible website can help you achieve numerous benefits. Similarly, without ADA compliance, lawyers may face several negative consequences too. These consequences can be detrimental to lawyers and their law firms.

Accessible website development is an essential requirement for lawyers. One of the negative consequences of ADA non-compliance companies is that their legal fees might be higher. Failing to defend the plaintiff can result in legal lawsuits. In such cases, ADA compliance companies or law firms will get the upper hand.

This is because ADA non-compliance companies will have to pay a larger fine in the lawsuit. Additionally, following the ADA for websites is civil law. You can face ADA lawsuits and penalties if you do not follow them. A disabled person can file a lawsuit against a lawyer or a law firm for discrimination. Penalties for such cases can reach an astounding amount.

Not only that, ADA web accessibility development ensures equal service and benefits. Without it, you are cutting off a large portion of users with disabilities from using your website. So, as a lawyer, you are setting a negative image when you do not follow ADA accessible websites. It also creates a negative brand image for your law firm.

Ways To Get ADA Compliant Website For Law Firms

Getting the best ADA-accessible website for lawyers and law firms is vital. To ensure that, you can contact experts. Many companies provide web accessibility audits to provide you with a better understanding.

With these companies, you can get the best website features like WordPress ADA compliance. Make sure that you are prioritizing ADA accessibility guidelines and checklists during the onset of the website design.

Finally, make sure to check your website and perform audits to understand its features. With the right awareness and guidelines, lawyers can easily get ADA-compliant websites for their law firms.

Conclusion

ADA-accessible websites are an asset to lawyers. That is why lawyers and law firms must have ADA-compliant websites. In this way, they can guarantee the best service and inclusion for all their users. To learn more about ADA accessibility for websites, make sure to contact us.

Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

10 Ways To Improve Web Accessibility

Websites are now an integral part of every business. Whether it is a big firm or a new one, digital presence plays a big role in drawing in more customers. Web accessibility directly contributes to a business’s profitability. Keep reading to learn 10 ways to improve web accessibility to ensure better performance and profitability in your organization.

Web accessibility is now more than just a tool to accessorize your websites. With the progression of digital platforms and growing consumer demands, web accessibility has become mandatory. In this article, we will help you navigate through the ways to improve your web accessibility.

10 Important Ways To Improve Web Accessibility

Web accessibility enables the features on your website to assist users of all ranges and demographics. It is a crucial necessity to help people with disabilities and physical restraints to have a user-friendly experience with the website. 10 of the best ways to improve your web accessibility are given below

Using Proper Alt Text For Images

Alt texts provide an easy explanation of the message of an image. It is a vital feature for screen readers. Using alt texts can significantly improve the web accessibility of your website.

Especially with multiple images and infographics, alt texts are an essential tool. It ensures all users, including disabled users, easily understand the message of an image. So, ensure proper alt text for photos to improve web accessibility.

Making Dynamic Content Accessible

Dynamic contents are the contents of a page that can update or revise without refreshing. A website with dynamic content goes through continuous shifts and updates. Web accessibility improves when these contents are easily accessible.

Adding multiple assertive tools to the website allows the dynamic content to be more accessible. So, users of the website will not struggle to find updated or revised information. Thus, your web accessibility will improve.

Accessible Content Management System

An accessible content management system can drastically improve the user experience and overall web accessibility of your websites. Content management systems or CMS are tools that help developers and users to create, manage, edit or collaborate on the content of a website.

Ensure that the CMS of your website checks out the web accessibility criteria. That is, the page layouts, widgets, plugins, themes, and other related aspects must be compatible with web accessibility standards. Hence, your user experience and accessibility will positively improve.

Structured Headers And Sub Points

Correct use of headers and subpoints in a website can significantly improve the website. This helps not only the website’s outlook but also its usability.

Make sure that the important content on your website has the appropriate headers. It should also follow necessary points and sub-points in an organized way. Otherwise, the website becomes too clustered with information to follow through. Hence, structured headers and sub-points are important to improve your web accessibility.

ADA Compliance

ADA compliance is a very important tool to improve your website’s performance. An ADA-compliant website is user-friendly for disabled people and users with other physical restraints.

By making your website ADA compliant, you can ensure disabled people have full access to the services of your website. So, while designing and developing your website, make sure to follow all the ADA compliance checklists. This will boost your website’s accessibility.

Keyboard Friendly

Keeping your website keyboard-friendly is an important feature. Users with motor disabilities rely on the use of a keyboard. So, keyboard accessibility helps these users enjoy the website’s facilities without hassle.

So, make sure that content covering long pages is broken down with “skip” or “jump” options. The functions of tab or arrow keys should also be available on the website. That is, keyboard actions and shortcuts should be present on your website. Thus, it will become more accessible for everyone.

Provide Video Transcript

Video transcripts are an important tool to help different users with disabilities. Additionally, if your website has a collection of various videos and multimedia, a video transcript becomes a necessity.

With the availability of video transcripts, navigating through the contents becomes easier. At the same time, users can go over the content quickly rather than sit through the video. Transcripts for both video and audio can help deaf or blind users too. So, provide video transcripts on your website to improve its accessibility.

Use ARIA Landmarks

Accessible Rich Internet Applications or ARIA landmarks are an important tool for web accessibility. In simple words, these are powerful technical specifications that allow for making semantically defined sections of a page.

With ARIA landmarks, the webpage becomes easier to access by users of assistive technologies. This means that to support the disabled and users with restraints ARIA landmarks are vital. They make the information or content of a website more accessible for all users. Therefore, use ARIA landmarks on your website for better web accessibility.

Provide Sufficient Color Contrast

An underrated tool for web accessibility is the right color contrast. Many people design their websites to their individual preferences. However, the users’ experience and comfort should be a priority while developing the website.

The foreground and background of the website must have adequate color contrast. In addition, the fonts must have a distinct contrast against their background. Otherwise, reading the content becomes tiresome. The color contrast must be soothing and easy on the eyes. This will improve your website’s accessibility.

Avoid Using Tiny Or Difficult Fonts

Similar to color contrast, the correct use of fonts is an important element. Using difficult fonts makes the content inaccessible to the users. Similarly, tiny fonts are also difficult to read or navigate through by the users of the website.

So, while choosing fonts, make sure that they follow the website accessibility checklist. That is, they must be easy to understand and read by different users. This will be vital for improving your website’s accessibility.

 

Conclusion

Web accessibility is an important tool to improve its performance and productivity. By following these criteria, you can attract a large and diverse pool of customers to grow your business. Contact us if you have any queries or to learn more about website accessibility.

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