ADA compliance
What ADA compliance covers, and what matters first.
ADA compliance is the part of your digital risk the law already covers. That starts with your website and includes the apps, forms, and documents people use to get something done.
Esther finds the digital barriers people run into, puts first the ones that stop someone paying, applying, or booking, and dates every finding, so progress shows in the record as issues are resolved.
The obligation is already being enforced.
Federal agreements have given public bodies deadlines measured in months, not years, and those deadlines cover more than the website.
Private organizations have no deadline. There is no federal requirement that their websites meet a specific standard, but that does not prevent lawsuits. Claims are filed in federal court every week, on a schedule the organization does not set.
A federal deadline and a lawsuit are answered the same way: with what you found, what you put first, and what has been resolved since. A dated record is an answer that already exists on the day the question arrives.
Six months
After federal findings that its mobile app could not be used by people with vision impairments, a state agency decided to withdraw the app within thirty days, and agreed that any app it creates, administers, or maintains would meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA within six months.
That clock started with one federal finding.
More than the website.
Most people picture the homepage. ADA compliance covers anything someone uses to get something done, even if a vendor built it and runs it for you.
| What you have online | What a barrier there stops someone from doing | Whose responsibility it is |
|---|---|---|
| Your website | Finding the page they came for, and reading it | Yours |
| An app | Doing on a phone what the website does | Yours |
| A form | Applying, registering, or signing up | Yours |
| A PDF | Reading the notice, the policy, or the form itself | Yours |
| A portal a vendor runs | Booking, paying, or checking a status | Yours |
The last column reads the same on every row. A vendor can build the system and run it for years, and it is still yours.
Podcasts and YouTube included
A university agreed, in a decree the court entered, to bring its public website, its free online courses, and the audio and video on its own channels hosted by others, "such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify" and "such as YouTube," to WCAG 2.0 Level AA. New audio and video had nine months, and the website eighteen. An independent auditor, approved by the United States, reviews the work.
The obligation followed the content onto someone else's platform.
Digital barriers, in the order they matter most.
Esther assesses your websites and the forms and documents on the sites, and finds the digital barriers that stop someone from finishing what they came to do. Findings are ranked by the urgency of what they block, and by what courts and regulators have already required of others.
Your record, ready before anyone asks.
For ADA compliance, you need to know four things.
- What has to be fixed. What was found, and where it sits.
- What matters first. The ranking, by the urgency of what each barrier blocks.
- Who owns it. Every finding carries enough to hand straight to the person on your side who owns the work.
- Proof you are making progress. Every check is dated. Resolved issues drop off the list. The record shows the list getting shorter, and when.
A demand letter, a federal review, and a question from counsel all ask for the same thing. Your record should already document it.
Government and private organizations face it differently.
State and local government
April 2027 and 2028
The deadline depends on total population. Populations of 50,000 or more have until April 2027. Smaller populations, and every special district, have until April 2028.
For state and local governmentPrivate organizations
No federal date
The Department of Justice has "consistently taken the position" that the ADA applies to what businesses and nonprofits offer, "including those offered on the web." No regulation sets them a date, and claims are filed routinely.
For private organizationsOrganizations in either category that receive federal financial assistance also answer to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The standard. The rule for state and local government names WCAG 2.1 at Level AA, a published international standard for whether people with impairments can use a website, an app, or a document. For private organizations, the Department of Justice calls existing standards such as WCAG "helpful guidance." Its own settlements with private businesses have required WCAG 2.1 at Level AA.
What does ADA compliance cover for you?
Thirty minutes. Your situation, and where to begin.