Why do I need to worry about ADA compliance for my website?

First, it’s just good business. Customers can’t buy from you if they can’t use your website. Second, being proactive to ensure your website is accessible can save you time, money, and reduce your risk of being sued for a non-compliant site. Website lawsuits are at an all-time high and their prevalence is only increasing. It takes little to no effort for opportunists to file a lawsuit for non-compliance even for small violations that can end up costing you. Lastly, the ADA code specifications for websites is changing more frequently which can make you non-compliant without you even knowing it.

How is ADA-Protek different than other website consultants?

We provide thorough website evaluations for existing and soon-to-be WCAG compliance to protect you from potential lawsuits when the code changes overnight. Our reports are written so that you can understand what’s wrong and how to fix it in simple, plain English (no tech-speak). Your own web development team is also able to easily fix your website as we provide explanations on which part of the website code is wrong and steps required to fix them.

My website is provided by a franchise. Do I still need to worry about ADA compliance?

In short, yes. Although you might not have built your website personally, you can still be sued for non-compliance. A website is the online face of you and your company, and anything wrong with it falls on you first.  We’ve seen scenarios where there is an issue with the website template of a franchise which then becomes the direct responsibility of the franchisee. In this case, you should fix all issues currently existing on your website and then immediately contact your franchisor to alert them of these issues on their template.

I’ve paid another company for a widget, but I’m not sure if it fixed everything. What should I do?

Widgets are relatively new and the “latest quick fix solution” to the issue of ADA website compliance. Their appearance throughout the internet is an attempt to combat lawsuits and provide ADA compliance. However, don’t be fooled. While the widget is, in many cases, very flashy and seems to fix everything on the surface, it is almost all eye candy. The widget works off an open-source non-profit website scanner (that scans your website) that is imperfect at best. Since the scanner itself can’t find everything that’s wrong, then the widget can’t fix everything either. 

Long story short, you can still be sued if you have the widget since the ONLY way to verify ADA compliance is to review your website by hand, double-checking that it’s compliant. In our estimation, widgets designed to address ADA website compliance are really just a band-aid, and a poor one at that. it’s better to fix your website issues at the source than to cover them up.

If I am sued for non-compliance, can ADA-Protek help me?

Yes, after reviewing the specifics of your case (see our process below), we can provide you with a plan of action, including providing expert witness testimony, if necessary.

 -       We review the entire website and evaluate it to determine the current level of compliance.

-       We review the lawsuit and its claims, including damages. In a lot of cases nothing specific is stated and they are just looking to settle for quick cash.

-       If the lawsuit is specific in its claims, we then check for legitimacy, and how to fix the issues on the website.

How long does it typically take for you to review my site?

Based on the complexity of the website, the turnaround time can be different from site to site. However, on average, you will get an estimate for an inspection within 2-3 days of talking to ADA-PROTEK. The actual inspection of the website then takes one to two weeks after agreeing to the estimate.

How does ADA-Protek protect my site with all the changes that happen after you’ve given my site a clean bill of health?

Before a new code change comes out, we will contact you and communicate what is changing. With your approval, we then take steps to ensure your website is up-to-date before the new changes take effect. However, code changes might not be the only things that requires your website receive a check-up. If you are adding new photos, moving around text, or creating an entirely new page, you will need to have your website reviewed since you might be introducing an issue into your website and its code-base that was previously fixed.