ADA, or The Americans with Disabilities Act, was initially instituted in 1990 to decrease discrimination based on different abilities. The ADA’s relation to the internet has a convoluted history since 2008. While it is not directly stated whether the internet falls under the ADA, it is often left to the courts to determine its application.
Title III of the ADA requires that every owner, lessor, or operator of a “place of public accommodation” provide equal access to users who meet ADA standards for disability. This includes individuals with vision or hearing issues.
To ensure compliance, making your site compatible with screen readers and having transcripts of important audio/video is essential.
Screen readers require proper Header nesting and order, and alternate text added to images. It is advised to avoid using images for large amounts of text. These rules also apply to PDFs and other documents on your site.
Including proper subtitles or transcripts for audio recordings and videos is also wise. For example, if you record and publicly release footage of executive meetings, you should have someone transcribe the conversations as they occur, similar to a court reporter.
The WGAG 2.1 standards (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are guidelines that are followed by many major sites. Created by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), these guidelines help most people understand what is recommended to make the site most accessible to users on the internet.
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