ADA Compliance - What it actually is?

 

What is ADA Compliance?

As a company you may have heard the term “ADA compliant,” but do you really know what it means and how to properly implement it?

The U.S. Department of Justice published the Standards of Accessible Design in September 2010. standards stated that all electronic information and online technology be accessible to people with disabilities, including computer hardware & program software and documentation.

Interactive Accessibility said, “The ADA standards apply to commercial and public entities that have ‘places of public accommodation’ which includes the internet.”

 

Basically, the law affects:

• Americans with disabilities and their friends, families, and caregivers
• Private employers with 15 or more employees
• Businesses operating for the benefit of the public
• All state and local government agencies

 

Information on the American Disabilities Act:

Fundamentally, the ADA provides people with disabilities “fair opportunity.” (Introduction to the ADA)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race, color, religion, sex, or national origin discrimination, was a starting guide for the ADA, as well as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law July 26, 1990. The ADA prohibits discrimination of people with disabilities and guarantees the same opportunities as everyone else.

These opportunities include employment possibilities, purchasing of goods and services and the ability to participate in State and local government programs.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) established the main international standards and accessibility for the World Wide Web. The WCAG is created by the W3C to provide a standard for web content accessibility that can be shared around the world. The WCAG is meant to accompany organizations as a sort of blueprint on how to make their websites ADA compliant.

The Web Accessibility Initiative said, Web content generally refers to the information in a web page or web application, including natural information such as text, images, and sounds and code or markup that defines a structure, presentation, etc.

What This Means..!

Businesses and companies can comply with the ADA by performing self-regulations of the accessibility standards on their websites. The ADA encourages the use of the WCAG to help your website become accessible for people with disabilities.

 

Color Contrast Checker                                                                                                               

  Color contrast allows those with color blindness and other disabilities of sight to read your content with ease.  This checker allows you to input foreground and background color values and returns a readability rating.

Accessibility of Websites PDF                                                                                                         

ADA Compliance summary presented by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Making Files Accessible Checklist                                                                      When making an ADA compliant site need to ensure all the files you link to from your site also meet the accessibility standards.  This checklist will help you adjust files into a compliant format.                                                                        

Website Accessibility Checklist                                                                            This is a comprehensive checklist to let you know how to build your website in a way that’s accessible for people with disabilities.  If you’re using modern web standards you may already be close to achieving compliance. It’s not super hard, just detailed.

Standing ADA Compliant:

Accessible Technology is broken down into the following categories on the ADA website:

Other Federal Initiatives

The Department provides a list of other federal accessible technology resources and initiatives.

Enforcement:

The Department’s ADA enforcement efforts have helped to ensure that people with disabilities can access Web sites, electronic book readers, online courses, and point-of-sale devices.

Technical Assistance and Guidance:

The Department has developed technical assistance and guidance to help covered entities understand their ADA obligations with regard to accessible technology.

Regulations Development:                                                                                                               

The ADA broadly protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in employment, access to State and local government services, places of public accommodation, transportation, and other important areas of American life.

The ADA directs the Attorney General to promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of Titles II and III.

Accessibility testing tool for a website :

1. DYNOMAPPER.COM
2. A11Y COMPLIANCE PLATFORM
3. AATT (AUTOMATED ACCESSIBILITY TESTING TOOL)
4. ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER
5. ACCESSIBILITY CHECKLIST
6. ACCESSIBILITY MANAGEMENT PLATFORM (AMP)
7. ACCESSIBILITY VIEWER
8. ACHECKER
9. ACROBAT XI PRO
10. AXE CHROME PLUGIN
11. BOOKMARKLETS FOR ACCESSIBILITY TESTING
12. CKSOURCE ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER
13. COMMONLOOK PDF GLOBAL ACCESS
14. COMPLYFIRST PROFESSIONAL
15. CYNTHIA SAYS
16. FIREEYES
17. HISOFTWARE COMPLIANCE SHERIFF WEB
18. HTML_CODESNIFFER
19. MONSIDO WEB GOVERNANCE PLATFORM
20. PA11Y
21. SORTSITE
22. TENON
23. TOTAL VALIDATOR
24. WORLDSPACE