Frequently Asked Questions

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international standard for making websites accessible to people with disabilities, including visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments. Courts reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA in ADA lawsuits.

With over 5,000 federal ADA web accessibility lawsuits filed in 2025 (a 37% increase over 2024), non-compliance creates significant legal and financial risk for businesses of all sizes. The 61 million Americans with disabilities also represent substantial purchasing power you may be losing.

Yes. Over 5,000 federal ADA digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2025. The majority of defendants are small businesses with under $25 million in annual revenue. Law firms like Mizrahi Kroub LLP have filed over 1,100 lawsuits in a single year using standardized complaints and repeat plaintiffs.

Settlements typically range from $5,000 to $25,000, and 46% of defendants get sued again — meaning compliance isn't optional if you want lasting protection.

WCAG 2.1 (published June 2018) is the standard most courts currently reference. It added 17 criteria to WCAG 2.0 focusing on mobile accessibility, low vision, and cognitive disabilities.

WCAG 2.2 (published October 2023) adds 9 new success criteria including: Focus Not Obscured (focused elements can't be hidden), Dragging Movements alternatives, Target Size Minimum (24x24px), Accessible Authentication (no CAPTCHAs), and Consistent Help placement. Both target Level AA for compliance.

WCAG 3.0 is a working draft from the W3C that represents a major redesign of the guidelines. It will replace the current A/AA/AAA conformance model with a Bronze, Silver, and Gold scoring system. It introduces new testing methodologies, more granular contrast measurement (APCA model), and broadens scope to cover native apps, documents, virtual reality, and emerging technologies.

WCAG 3.0 is not yet finalized or enforceable, but forward-thinking businesses should be tracking its development.

The most common violations are:

• Missing alternative text for images
• Insufficient color contrast (below 4.5:1 for normal text)
• Missing form labels (using placeholder text instead of label elements)
• Missing skip navigation links
• Empty links or buttons with no accessible text
• Broken keyboard navigation
• Missing or removed focus indicators
• Improper heading hierarchy (skipping levels)

E-commerce and retail websites account for nearly 70% of lawsuits. Other frequently targeted industries include restaurants (image-heavy menus), hotels and hospitality (booking widgets), dental and medical practices (old templates), salons (inaccessible booking platforms), real estate (MLS widgets), and auto dealers (inventory search systems).

Any business with a public-facing website is potentially at risk.

New York, Florida, California, and Illinois account for over 74% of all ADA web accessibility filings. However, if your website is accessible from these states — and virtually all websites are — you may be at risk regardless of where your business is physically located. Lawsuits are expanding into new states every year.

Don't ignore it. Contact an attorney familiar with ADA litigation immediately. Then get your website remediated — demonstrating good-faith compliance efforts can significantly strengthen your legal position and reduce settlement amounts.

I offer emergency remediation services for businesses facing active demand letters or lawsuits. Contact me for expedited help.

Yes. The ADA applies to businesses of all sizes. In fact, the majority of ADA web accessibility lawsuits target small businesses with under $25 million in annual revenue — specifically because they lack resources to mount a legal defense, making them more likely to settle quickly.

No. The FTC fined AccessiBe $1 million in January 2025 for deceptive claims that its AI product could make websites accessible. Over 800 accessibility professionals signed an open letter opposing overlay tools. The National Federation of the Blind called them "misleading and harmful." Overlays have been named in 400+ lawsuits.

Overlays can actually make accessibility worse by interfering with screen readers, creating keyboard traps, and breaking existing accessible functionality. Real compliance requires code-level fixes.

For a typical small business website (5–15 pages), professional remediation costs $500–$2,000. Larger or more complex sites range from $2,000–$5,000. My Audit + Remediation package starts at $997.

Compare this to lawsuit settlements of $5,000–$25,000 plus $5,000–$25,000+ in attorney fees. Proactive compliance costs a fraction of litigation.

A typical small business website (5–15 pages) takes 1–2 weeks. Larger sites or e-commerce platforms with complex interactive features may take 3–4 weeks. Emergency remediation for businesses facing active lawsuits can be expedited.

A comprehensive audit includes: automated scanning with WAVE, Lighthouse, and axe-core; manual keyboard navigation testing; screen reader testing with NVDA and/or VoiceOver; color contrast analysis across all pages; and a detailed report with every violation categorized, prioritized, and accompanied by fix recommendations and a legal exposure assessment.

Yes. Every remediation project comes with a 30-day guarantee. If any WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA violation I fixed is still present after delivery, I will re-fix it at no additional cost. No questions asked.

No. Every time you add content, update images, install plugins, or change page layouts, you can reintroduce violations. Ongoing monitoring — at minimum monthly automated scanning — is essential. New WCAG versions also add requirements over time. My Full Compliance Package includes quarterly re-audits to keep you protected.

Some issues are straightforward: adding alt text to images, improving color contrast, adding form labels. But many require specialized knowledge of ARIA attributes, keyboard event handling, focus management, and assistive technology behavior. Automated tools only catch 30–57% of issues, so comprehensive compliance benefits from professional expertise.

My free WCAG Compliance Guide covers what you can check and fix on your own.

The contrast ratio measures the difference in perceived luminance between text and its background on a scale from 1:1 (no contrast) to 21:1 (black on white). WCAG 2.1 AA requires a minimum 4.5:1 ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold).

Low contrast is one of the most common violations and affects people with low vision, color blindness, and anyone viewing a screen in bright sunlight.

Keyboard accessibility means all website functionality can be operated using only a keyboard — no mouse required. Users navigate with Tab (forward), Shift+Tab (backward), Enter (activate), and Escape (close). This serves people with motor impairments, tremors, or conditions that make mouse use difficult or impossible.

Common failures include booking widgets that trap keyboard focus, dropdown menus that only open on mouse hover, and buttons that don't respond to Enter key.

Alt text (alternative text) is a text description added to images in HTML code. Screen readers announce this text to blind and visually impaired users. Without alt text, a screen reader just says "image" with no context — a blind user visiting a restaurant website might hear "image, image, image" instead of the menu items.

Every meaningful image needs descriptive alt text. Decorative images should have empty alt attributes (alt="") so screen readers skip them entirely.

A skip navigation link is a hidden link that becomes visible when a keyboard user first presses Tab on a page. It lets them jump directly to the main content, bypassing the entire navigation menu. Without it, a keyboard user must tab through every menu item on every single page load. This is a WCAG Level A requirement (2.4.1 Bypass Blocks).

No. Automated tools like WAVE and Lighthouse detect only 30–57% of WCAG accessibility issues. They're good at catching missing alt text, contrast failures, and missing form labels. But they can't evaluate whether alt text is actually meaningful, whether keyboard navigation follows a logical order, whether focus management works correctly in dynamic content, or whether the reading order makes sense to a screen reader user.

That's why professional audits combine automated scanning with manual testing using real assistive technologies.

The DOJ Title II rule requires state and local government websites to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Compliance deadlines are April 2026 for jurisdictions with populations of 50,000+ and April 2027 for those under 50,000. While this directly applies to government entities, it establishes WCAG 2.1 AA as the de facto legal standard and raises expectations for private sector websites as well.

Section 508 is a federal law requiring government agencies and their contractors to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. It references WCAG 2.0 Level AA. If your business contracts with or provides technology services to the federal government, Section 508 compliance is required.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA), effective June 2025, requires accessibility compliance for digital products and services across the European Union. This includes websites, mobile apps, e-commerce platforms, banking services, and more. If your business serves customers in the EU or has European operations, the EAA applies to your digital properties.

Almost certainly not fully compliant. Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy Website Builder templates generate complex HTML structures that often lack proper heading hierarchy, keyboard navigation, form labels, and ARIA attributes. Many of their interactive widgets create keyboard traps. These platforms are improving, but most sites built on them have significant WCAG violations.

In many cases, these templates are structurally deficient — they can't simply be modified to become accessible. A rebuild on an accessible foundation may be more cost-effective than patching. I assess this during the audit and give you an honest recommendation. Learn more about platform limitations.

Yes, typically. WordPress with a well-coded theme and Shopify with an accessible theme can usually be remediated without a full rebuild. The key is whether the theme itself has accessible foundations — proper semantic HTML, keyboard navigation support, and ARIA integration. I audit the theme alongside the content and fix both layers.

WooCommerce stores, WordPress sites with complex plugins, and Shopify stores with heavy customization may need more work, but they're generally fixable.

Yes. E-commerce and retail websites account for 77% of all ADA web accessibility lawsuits. Product images without alt text, inaccessible checkout flows, filter widgets that don't work with keyboards, and missing form labels in shopping carts are the most common violations. If you sell online, your risk is significantly higher than average.

Absolutely. Healthcare websites with patient portals, appointment booking, and medical information are frequently sued. 57% of financial services firms have already faced accessibility-related legal action. Both industries handle sensitive user interactions that must be accessible to people using assistive technologies — screen readers for banking transactions, keyboard navigation for appointment booking, and properly labeled forms for patient intake.

Yes. The DOJ Title II rule requires state and local government websites to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 2026 (populations 50,000+) or April 2027 (under 50,000). This includes public universities, city websites, county services, and public school districts. Notably, 97% of college and university websites are currently non-compliant. The deadline is firm and approaching fast.