You Probably Got Here One of Three Ways
Either someone mentioned ADA website compliance in a conversation and you wanted to understand what they meant. Or you received a letter or email about your website's accessibility. Or you came across this topic while reading about small business legal risks and wanted to understand it better.
All three are reasonable paths to this page. The good news: you don't need to understand everything at once. This page is designed to give you a grounded starting point.
Key Terms, Defined Simply
A Suggested Reading Path
If you're starting from scratch, here's a sequence that builds understanding progressively:
Understand the Standard
Read the WCAG 2.1 section on our What We Cover page. It explains the four principles and the specific criteria most relevant to small business websites. You don't need to memorize the criteria — you need to understand the categories of issues they address.
WCAG 2.1 ExplainedRun a Free Audit on Your Site
Install the WAVE browser extension and run it on your homepage. Don't try to fix everything at once — just look at what comes up. The audit gives you a concrete picture of where your site stands right now.
Audit GuideAddress the Most Common Issues
Review the common violations section and cross-reference with what your audit found. Start with the issues that appear in both places — those are your highest-priority items. Many can be fixed in your CMS without developer help.
Common ViolationsUnderstand the Legal Context
Read the legal landscape section to understand what courts have decided, what the DOJ has said, and what demand letters typically look like. This gives you factual context — not legal advice — for understanding your situation.
Legal LandscapeCommon Misconceptions
"My website is small, so I don't need to worry about this."
ADA Title III doesn't have a size threshold for businesses. Demand letters have been sent to very small businesses. Whether that creates a legal obligation that applies to you specifically is a question for an attorney — but size alone is not a safe harbor.
"I installed an accessibility widget, so I'm covered."
Courts have not accepted overlay widget installation as a compliance defense. Plaintiffs have successfully argued that overlays did not remove the barriers they encountered. An overlay may provide some user-preference features, but it is not a substitute for addressing underlying issues.
"Making my site accessible requires a complete rebuild."
Many of the most common accessibility issues — missing alt text, poor color contrast, unlabeled form fields, non-descriptive link text — can be fixed directly in a content management system without touching code. A complete rebuild is rarely the starting point.
"There's a certification I can get that proves compliance."
No official government certification for ADA website compliance exists. Third-party auditors can provide accessibility audit reports, but these are professional assessments — not legal certifications. Compliance is ultimately determined by courts, not by certificates.