Business Vantage Point Blog

Enacted in 1990, the public policy underpinning the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was to guarantee individuals with disabilities equal access to public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. That policy objective has run squarely into the realities of the plaintiffs’ bar. As a result, operators of websites face ever-increasing claims, from both claimants — often class representatives — who allege access barriers, and serial litigants seeking hasty settlements. These may come in the form of demand letters or filed litigation. The point is, if you operate a website, you are likely to receive one or more of these claims.

What Makes a Website ADA-Compliant?

Courts have made clear that websites and mobile applications fall under the ADA when they operate as gateways to goods, services, privileges or advantages of a physical place of public accommodation. Courts have held that a website alone is not a “public accommodation,” but if there is some nexus to the physical place or business, it may be considered one. The issue is not whether the ADA’s accessibility obligations apply, but what specific steps are sufficient to satisfy them. In the Title III context, courts generally look for a nexus between the challenged digital platform and the defendant’s physical goods or services and then ask whether the website or app creates a tangible or intangible barrier that prevents individuals with disabilities from accessing those offerings.

Because neither the statute nor case law clearly defines the ADA’s requirements for website compliance, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) explains how to make websites more accessible to individuals with disabilities, including “natural information such as text, images, and sounds” and “code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.”

Today, websites generally should conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA to support ADA compliance. An ADA compliance checklist begins with understanding the organization’s obligations. Organizations should then conduct an accessibility audit, ideally including functional testing by people with disabilities, to identify barriers and real-world usability issues. After remediation, tools such as overlay widgets may help address certain issues, but accessibility requires ongoing monitoring and updates as digital accessibility standards evolve.

WCAG guidance is extensive, and full compliance can be difficult to achieve. Inexpensive accessibility tools such as accessiBe, UserWay and AudioEye may help organizations identify and address some barriers, but they are not complete solutions and do not guarantee ADA compliance. (See In the Matter of accessiBe, FTC Docket No. C-4817, Decision and Order (April 21, 2025); and BloomsyBox.com v. UserWay, No. CV 24-844-RGA, 2026 WL 412716, at *1 (D. Del. February 13, 2026).) By contrast, in 2023, AudioEye announced it successfully defended a client in New York federal court by showing that the challenged website did not contain access barriers to users with disabilities. A more effective approach combines automated and AI-assisted tools with meaningful human review.

What Actions Can Website Operators Take to Minimize Risk?

Organizations should treat website accessibility as an ongoing compliance priority rather than a one-time technical fix. To reduce the risk of access barriers and minimize ADA claims and exposure, organizations should assess their websites and mobile apps against WCAG 2.2 Level AA and engage qualified accessibility professionals to conduct testing, including testing by individuals with disabilities. Organizations should promptly remediate identified issues and incorporate accessibility review before new content or products are launched. Automated and AI-assisted accessibility tools may help identify and address certain issues, but they should not replace meaningful human testing and remediation.

There is no way to guarantee that an organization will avoid a claim or litigation, but a robust compliance program can both meaningfully improve access for users with disabilities and minimize the organization’s exposure. If a company receives a claim, it should put its insurance carrier on notice and contact its counsel immediately.

Summer associate Lexi Naskiewicz contributed to this blog post.