ADA Website Accessibility: What Businesses Need to Know

A letter arrives from a law firm you have never heard of. It says a blind user could not complete a purchase on your website, cites the Americans with Disabilities Act and offers to settle for a few thousand dollars. You have a small team, a template website and no idea whether you actually broke the law.

Thousands of businesses receive letters like this. Some are legitimate complaints, some are aggressive and many could have been avoided. The underlying issue is real: more than 1 in 4 US adults has some type of disability, according to the CDC, and an inaccessible site turns away customers before any lawyer gets involved.

This guide explains what the ADA requires for websites, how WCAG works, what to do with a demand letter and why the overlay widget your web designer suggested is not the answer. This is general information, not legal advice. If you receive a demand letter or lawsuit, talk to an attorney who handles ADA cases.

What the ADA says about websites

The ADA was written in 1990, before most businesses had websites, so it never mentions them. Two parts matter:

• Title III covers businesses open to the public, called public accommodations: stores, restaurants, hotels, clinics, gyms, banks and more. They must provide full and equal enjoyment of their goods and services.
• Title II covers state and local governments, including public schools, colleges, courts and transit agencies.

The Justice Department’s position, set out in its March 2022 web accessibility guidance, is that Title III applies to the websites of businesses open to the public. An inaccessible site can keep people with disabilities from using a business’s online offerings, just as steps without a ramp can block a door.

There is no federal regulation setting a technical web standard for private businesses. DOJ says businesses have flexibility in how they comply, but must still make their online goods and services accessible. Its guidance points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the federal Section 508 Standards as helpful references.

Courts do not all agree on how far Title III reaches. Some have required a connection between a website and a physical location; others have not. That uncertainty is one reason lawsuits keep coming: plaintiffs file where courts are friendlier.

The government rule that sets the bar

For state and local governments, DOJ issued a Title II final rule in April 2024 that adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile apps.

In April 2026, DOJ published an interim final rule pushing back the compliance dates by 1 year:

The technical standard did not change. If you sell software, content or services to cities, counties or public schools, expect contracts to require WCAG 2.1 AA conformance. For private businesses, this rule is a strong signal of what courts and regulators treat as “accessible.”

WCAG basics in plain English

WCAG is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is organized around 4 principles, often shortened to POUR:

1. Perceivable: People can see or hear the content. Images have text alternatives, videos have captions and text has enough color contrast.
2. Operable: People can use the site with a keyboard alone, have enough time to complete tasks and are not trapped by moving content.
3. Understandable: Forms have clear labels and error messages, and navigation behaves predictably.
4. Robust: The code works with assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers and voice control.

Each requirement, called a success criterion, has a level: A (minimum), AA (the usual legal target) and AAA (enhanced). WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, adds 9 success criteria to 2.1, covering things like focus not being hidden behind sticky headers, minimum target sizes for buttons and accessible authentication that does not depend on memory puzzles. A site that conforms to WCAG 2.2 also conforms to 2.1.

The problems that show up most often on small business sites are fixable:

• Images and icons with no alt text
• Low-contrast text, such as light gray on white
• Form fields with no labels, so a screen reader announces “edit text” with no context
• Buttons and menus that do not work with a keyboard
• Videos without captions
• PDFs that are scanned images rather than real text
• Pop-ups that trap keyboard focus

Alt text and clear product copy go together; our guide on how to write product descriptions covers writing for people first. Accessible markup also overlaps with technical SEO: headings, labels and clean structure help both.

Key takeaway: Aim for WCAG 2.1 Level AA as a minimum and WCAG 2.2 AA where you can. Fix the code and content, then test with a keyboard and a screen reader. That is what reduces both legal risk and lost customers.

Why overlay widgets are not a fix

Accessibility overlays are scripts that add a toolbar or “AI” layer to your site, promising instant compliance for a monthly fee. They are tempting because they are cheap and fast. They are also not a substitute for fixing your site:

• They cannot fix the underlying code. Missing form labels, broken keyboard navigation and inaccessible checkout flows usually need changes in the site itself.
• They can interfere with assistive technology. Many screen reader users already have their own settings, and an overlay can conflict with them.
• Regulators have acted on the claims. In January 2025, the Federal Trade Commission announced an order requiring accessiBe, an overlay vendor, to pay $1 million over allegations that it deceptively claimed its AI tool could make any website WCAG-compliant. The FTC finalized the order in April 2025. The order bars the company from making such claims without evidence.
• DOJ cautions against relying on automated tools alone. Its guidance notes that automated checkers can help but that a “clean” report does not necessarily mean everything is accessible.

Businesses using overlays still receive demand letters and lawsuits. Automated scanners and plug-ins are useful for finding issues; they do not replace manual testing and remediation.

What to do if you get a demand letter

1. Do not ignore it, and do not pay immediately. Note any response deadline.
2. Call an attorney experienced in ADA website cases. Some letters come from firms that send many near-identical letters; others precede real lawsuits. A lawyer can tell the difference.
3. Preserve evidence. Save the current version of your site and any accessibility work you have already done.
4. Get an audit from an accessibility specialist who tests manually with assistive technology, not just an automated scan.
5. Start fixing the issues in the letter and the audit, beginning with your most important user paths: navigation, product pages, booking and checkout.
6. Publish an accessibility statement with a way for users to report problems and get help by phone or email.

State laws can raise the stakes. California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, for example, allows damages of no less than $4,000 for each offense, which is one reason many web accessibility cases are filed there.

What accessibility costs: options compared

Costs vary with site size, platform and how many issues you have. These are the main approaches:

If you are planning a new site anyway, building accessibly from the start costs less than retrofitting. Our guides to what a website costs and WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace can help you budget and pick a platform with accessible templates.

Where to start: a 7-step plan

1. Test your own site with a keyboard. Unplug your mouse and try to navigate, fill out a form and check out using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter and the arrow keys.
2. Run a free automated checker on your top 10 pages to find obvious issues like missing alt text and low contrast.
3. Try a screen reader. VoiceOver is built into Apple devices and Narrator into Windows. NVDA is a free Windows screen reader.
4. Fix the templates first. One fix to your header, product template or form component repairs every page that uses it.
5. Caption your videos and replace scanned PDFs with real text or web pages.
6. Get a manual audit of your key user journeys from a qualified specialist.
7. Add an accessibility statement and train whoever updates the site to add alt text, use real headings and check contrast.

Accessibility also helps customers who use assistive technology for dyslexia, older visitors and anyone on a small phone screen. If you are rebuilding, start with our guide on how to build a small business website.

Conclusion

ADA website compliance is less about a certificate and more about whether people with disabilities can actually use your site. There is no federal technical rule for private businesses, but WCAG 2.1 AA is the working standard, the government is holding itself to it and courts look for real access. Skip the overlay shortcut, fix your templates and key paths, test with real assistive technology and document what you did. Look up terms like WCAG and alt text in our glossary.

This is not legal advice.

Sources

• ADA.gov: Guidance on web accessibility and the ADA — DOJ position on Title III websites, flexibility, WCAG and Section 508, automated checkers
• W3C: What’s new in WCAG 2.2 — WCAG 2.2 additions and backward compatibility with 2.1
• W3C: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 — the standard and conformance levels
• FTC: Final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million — overlay compliance claims
• California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 52 — Unruh Act minimum damages
• CDC: Disability impacts all of us — share of US adults with a disability