Help with ADA compliance and website accessibility. Plain English discussion on making your website accessible and following best practices for ADA compliance.
The ADA Book channel is hosted by Kris Rivenburgh. Kris is an attorney and the author of The ADA Book. Kris is also the founder of Accessible.org and the creator of the ADA Compliance Course.
Kris Rivenburgh has researched and written about digital accessibility and ADA compliance for five years. Kris's work has been cited by Verizon.com, MN.gov (Minnesota), Syr.edu (Syracuse), Illinois.edu, and Yahoo Small Business. Kris's guides have also been published in Bloomberg Law.
Kris has worked with numerous entities - from small businesses and non-profits to large corporations to provide affordable accessibility services including WCAG 2.1 AA audits.
Buy The ADA Book at adabook.com.
Buy the ADA Compliance Course at adacompliance.net.
No, widgets don't make a website accessible / WCAG conformant. overlayfactsheet.com and overlayfalseclaims.com are excellent resources to learn more about why widgets / overlay widgets don't make websites accessible. Note that some plaintiffs' law firms also target websites with overlay widgets installed.
This is an excellent tutorial. I was actually doing a study on making documentation accessible. Besides accessibility documentation, how can documentation itself for the product be made accessible
Thank you so much. As far as making the documentation accessible, that depends on the document format (e.g., word document, spreadsheet, PDF, etc.) and content. The principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) will apply so there are a fair amount of considerations to make. Using Word's built-in numbering and unordered lists, correct heading structure, marking images as decorative or adding alternative text, ensuring appropriate color contrast, underlining links and using descriptive anchor text will provide a nice baseline for accessibility, especially for simpler documents, but there can be much more to account for depending on the document. Thanks very much for commenting and let me know if this doesn't answer your question.
@@adabook Thank you for the quick reply 🤭. Yes I have a fair share of knowledge on how layout plays out in helping accessibility especially screen readers
hey I got a lawsuit from these guys for CIPA laws. I have basic privacy policy and this is complete bs. She's stating I'm spying on her without her permission.
Hey - I wrote a reply to you in the Reddit thread. My condolences on the lawsuit. There's always an initial loss of time and money, but I hope something positive also comes of it.
They still have moving content by the footer 2.2.2 Pause, stop,hide. Which will also potentially add colour contrast issues with the text over the images.
You should start interlacing 28 cfr 41.51 of Section 504 with ADA. The state gets federal funds for everything and there more protection plus abrogation of state immunity for receipt of federal funds.
Noted, thanks for adding this. I usually don't combine subjects for multiple reasons, but I can think of a few scenarios where mentioning Section 504 would reinforce my point, possibly cause public entities to be more proactive.
Hi, thanks for the summary. Regarding "Audit", clients get very particular around the words "It's a Requirement" vs. "It is Recommended". Are conducting audits considered recommendations/best practice or requirements?
Hi WWade, Audits aren't required for compliance, but they're necessary for compliance. Looking at the new update to ADA Title II regulation, the requirement is only WCAG 2.1 AA conformance. So the DOJ doesn't care how you get there so long as you do. But how do you get there? An audit. There's no way to ensure full conformance without auditing a website. Could you take an informal path to get there and just find and fix the issues you come across browsing 10-20 pages? It's possible, but you're very likely to miss some issues - even if you're an accessibility expert.
This industry is fraught with deception. A good heuristic is if it's accessibility software, don't buy it. This is not to say that software necessarily can't be helpful in some way, but what happens over and over again is the companies oversell the capabilities and then overcharge for it.
Watching all of your content now. Great info. Thanks! Coming from a web developer / designer. We do our best with accessibility. If you search on here Kevin Geary. We visit this topic once or twice a year. Info like this would definitely be useful to his audience. I’ll be sure to share you channel in the inner circles.
These lawyers/plaintiffs are not really interested on what a website are selling. Once they see a widget installed they move on to another one till they find one without a widget.
Thanks for commenting. Where did you hear this from? It's the opposite when it comes to widgets - plaintiffs' lawyers will specifically target websites with an overlay widget installed.
You don't have to pay to get the information. It's out there. What you're paying for the course is me researching cases and accessibility, curating the information, distilling it, streamlining it (into step-by-step instructions), and then prioritizing all of the issues and providing strategy. This along with my first-hand experience from years of working with clients that informs the course.
The regulations are so confusing it states on their webite, 1991 regs, 2010 regs, etc for physical accessibility in remodels or in new buildings. Confusing and frustrating...... The webpage says new info is coming under the search, sends you to another page, and the link on the other page reverts back to the original page. A big ole loop. Typical! Imagine how difficult this is for people with more significant disabilities.
Omg!! To say that websites should already have this built in is exactly what I was thinking!!! I feel like something isn't right.. why should I have to do their work?? It makes me want to explore other website options. Thanks for this. 🙏🏾
You're very welcome and thank you for adding this comment. Any website builder should provide for this - not only for accessibility and supporting their current customers, but out of their own self interest.
Thanks for all that, I was expecting answers but you basically threw up a roadblock and said, even though I know how to answer your concerns why don't you go elseware.
Hi John, I apologize for that. 3:02 has the quick answer: a manual audit and remediation. With an audit you'll want to manually evaluate your website against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) technical standards. Once the audit is complete, then you need to remediate or fix any instances of non-conformance you come across. WCAG 2.1 AA is a good version and conformance level to work from when auditing. With 2.1 AA there are 50 success criteria or requirements for conformance. WCAG 2.1 AA conformance is best practice for ADA compliance but if you work through the most commonly claimed issues in litigation first, you can reduce your risk of litigation as you improve accessibility. The top three issues are 1) missing alt text 2) missing programmatic form field labels and 3) a lack of keyboard navigability. Scans like WAVE and AXE can help flag several accessibility issues but, with automation, we're limited to a subset of accessibility issues (approximately 25%) so there are many more to be aware of. And scans can have false negatives and occasionally false positives. The key with scans is to know they're very helpful but also very limited. I hope this helps. Definitely let me know if you have any other questions.
Overlays are not a subject for debate. This has been settled empirically and objectively. See overlayfactsheet.com, overlaysdontwork.com, and overlayfalseclaims.com. Any comments that sympathize with overlays are likely to be compensated, directly or indirectly, by overlay sellers. I have not deleted any user comments on this channel to date and I don't plan to do so (unless the comment is spam, malicious, etc.) so you may read comments that sympathize with overlays. For further research, I recommend Haben Girma's overlay review video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R12Z1Sp-u4U.html
You can't compare it with a gold watch because, for a user, only the experience matters; they don't care about the actual code behind it, while someone buying a watch wants a watch made of gold. I'm a developer myself, and obviously, writing clean code is a top priority. However, when I'm taking over someone else's project, it doesn't make sense to change thousands of lines of code when there's a plugin that automatically rewrites or adds user-friendly code as an overlay. For a website visitor, it doesn't matter if it's an overlay code or a change in the actual code. I'm not saying these plugins will make your site ADA-compliant, BUT it does change the user experience in a positive way. I can't stress this enough, for a visitor it does not matter how the image alt tag is added (in an actual code or using an overlay) as long as accessibility tools can read out those alt tags. So to sum this up, both plugins will improve user experience, but the website code itself won't be technically ADA compliant. If you care about user experience then get the plugins, if you want a compliant website then get a developer and spend thousands of dollars :)
09:00 regarding suggestions just be careful you dont give up formatting code, as hackers use that information to brute force a vector. Form validation should be helpful, just not to hackers..
Unfortunately, this is not totally accurate. For example, if you use a template-driven site like WordPress, you might have part of your template that applies across your whole site. Whether it is color contrast for buttons or backgrounds, etc., you can absolutely address those issues en masse.
I cant imagine anyone reasonably paying $3500 let alone $15,000. We had vendors try that with PDFs too - we just developed in-house expertise and continue to learn instead.
The best route is always training so you can take accessibility in-house. If you can make accessibility a part of your process, your content, documents, etc. will already be accessible. Thanks for commenting.
@@adabook I agree entirely, that is pretty much what we did and most of that learning has been predominantly organic - most course offerings just aren't advanced enough on the PDF remediation side of it (likely manually tagging and troubleshooting).
Considering a website accessibility audit means testing for use every type of accessibility aid, accounting for physical, visual, auditory, and spectrum/mental sensitivities and issues, and testing the full range of WCAG standards, these numbers are actually super reasonable. It takes a lot of time to test this stuff. Of course you then have to pay to fix the problems, and get re-assessed after. Accessibility compliance isn't cheap because it requires a high level of training and expertise. If you have the funds to train your in-house people, that's cool (and PDFs are a lot different than web). If a company cares though, they'll pay it and be happy to. As more and more places bring web accessibility into law, this industry is going to become huge. It's a shame though, that it can't be done easily and with little expense, as this just increases the barriers to access for the disabled due to budgeting.
@@jgfellerI completely agree - if you aren't familiar with everything that goes into accessibility services they can seem pricey, but once you learn more about how in-depth good services go and how impactful they are, the prices for many genuine service providers are very fair. And as you said, training takes time (and you have to care) so I always recommend outsourcing services to begin with to make digital assets conformant ASAP and then training concurrently so teams familiarize themselves with accessibility and can start integrating into processes. This is where accessibility becomes much, much easier because it's a part of the process rather than work that takes place after a website is built, etc. Thanks so much for your insight.
hi Kris, I am looking into starting a career in digital accessbility as the salary is better and more area to grow! Would be great to understand where to start? I am currently an assistive technology consultant so know the basics on web accessbility but no experience in terms of design! currently enrolled in the w3c foundation free course... do you recommend anything else? dropping a like on the video and subbed!
Hi Frazzyo, it all depends what direction you want to go in. There are no shortage of digital accessibility jobs available. www.a11yjobs.com is a great job board. The W3C's course is also a great start. For ideas on starting your own digital accessibility business / consulting agency, take a look at my business ideas video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FtTk58Uw9p0.html. Also, I expect to have a course on starting your own accessibility business released in the not too distant future so subscribe to ADACompliance.net/subscribe if you'd like to know about that as soon as it comes out. Thanks for the like and subscribe. I'd browse through some of my videos and see if any topics pique your interest and start exploring down that path. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks again.
I looked quickly and didn't see anything that matches that exact name. One thing to keep in mind is AccessiBe has claimed AI for a long, long time - as far back as I can remember (years before Chat-GPT came out). Another is that when we do have any sort of autonomous remediation breakthrough, it will be all over the place. Thanks for commenting and let me know if I can answer any other questions.
My company is looking for an ADA compliance provider. We build sites using Wordpress and the Divi builder because of the speed that we can create content. I am looking for a solution that can help fix any errors in code either by remediation or by recommending what I can do. Are there providers that you recommend?@@adabook
@@user-tb8py7ur3g There's no product I can recommend but we offer audit and remediation services that can help your clients. Accessible.org (accessible.org) has white label and co-brand partnership options that you can seamlessly add-on to your existing offerings. I apologize for not replying earlier - I did not see your comment until last night.
I just saw this Ridiculousness on the news so does this mean because I'm older and I struggle with some websites I get to sue somebody!!! absolutely freaking ridiculous just because you have disabilities does not mean you have the right to sue people. It's called asking for help!!! not let me take your welfare and your life away from you because I struggled through your website!! I also saw that it was the same lady that filed multiple lawsuits against different businesses. And it happens to be this exact Law Firm that is doing the suing!!! Pathetic
So, here's the thing... We all heard in the mainstream about Y2K, most people heard about GDPR (essentially, because several countries got together to make waves and let the whole world know), Anyone who takes credit cards knows about PCI compliance, brick and mortars get inspections by local code enforcers... But for Web Accessibility... nothing... crickets... And, considering something like 96% of websites are still not fully compliant, it's apparent that a whole lot of business people don't know about it. DOJ's historical mediocre stance on it doesn't help matters. Instead, it has become a sue first, drive-by lawsuit, money-grab, shakedown-like mini-phenomena that hasn't helped the vast majority of people who need assistance. Why hasn't the web accessibility advocacy been as vocal, or, the politicians who represent community betterment, been vocal... like GDPR, like Y2K, like the credit card companies.
So, Why are New York and California "litigation first" and not "demand letters first"? I mean, when you look at the distribution of litigation over the past few years, New York is crazy ahead of the country. It's not even close. Even California, second on the list, is still much lower. Other states combined are something like less than 1% of litigation.
Hi WWade - There's not a singular answer here and I don't know all of the reasoning why. But here are four things I have observed: 1) Some plaintiffs' law firms in California and New York do send demand letters first, 2) Sometimes a complaint is filed only after a demand letter does not lead to a settlement, 3) California has the Unruh Civil Rights Act and New York has the New York State/City Human Rights Act which means they have their own local laws, 4) New York and California courts have been and still are, to an extent, receptive to this litigation. Also, even today there are only 20-25 active to fairly active law firms in this space. The number continues to tick upwards, but my point is it's mostly just 5 law firms who are dominating this space.
@@adabook Thanks! I've heard or read that some judges or courts are starting to dismiss the drive by, copy and paste complaints, even in New York because it is apparent that the practice is not a positive one (or something like that). Is there any truth to that? Also, does a defendant still have to go to court to get it dismissed?
@@wwade7226 You're very welcome. Yes, we have seen more scrutiny and dismissals. Also, generally, yes, there will need to be some formal legal action by defense counsel but it may be possible to accomplish this remotely in some courts.
What is your recommendation for some of the inaccurate color contrast ratios that WCAG specifies when compared to APCA's color contrast measurements? For example, white text on orange backgrounds (2.91 contrast ratio) fail WCAG. However, APCA studies show that the combination is clearer to read than black text on orange background (5.45 contrast ratio in WCAG). Is it moot because in order to argue it, you'd have to take it to court?
I'd try to meet the minimum WCAG threshold while also factoring in the practical visibility. I know what you're getting at - I've been surprised at certain color combinations that actually meet the required color contrast ratios. As far as litigation, color contrast is claimed every now and then but I think it's more because it's easy to find with a scan. In theory, I think slightly insufficient color contrast would be one of the easier issues to defend against. On these types of details, you may want to elaborate in your accessibility statement. That said, I always recommend WCAG conformance.
Can a plaintiff attorney be countersued? Many of the top plaintiff firms have websites that are not anywhere close to compliant, or that use Overlays, as well.
Thanks for commenting. Yes, they can be countersued but it's unlikely to happen for many reasons. One being that most website owners want to limit their expense.
@@adabook It's a very hypocritical situation. Plaintiff lawyer can break all the rules, can apply overlays (2 of the top 10 plaintiff lawyers have overlays on their sites), and meet only about 60% of WCAG requirements... yet they don't even get touched.
I think the impossibility notion rests more in the expense. A $10,000 website design cost suddenly becomes $25,000 to remediate. Most business owners can barely keep the lights on.
My experience is most people say this because they're overwhelmed by WCAG, but cost can definitely can play a part. Especially, as you alluded to, for small businesses.
Thanks very much for letting me know - this video was working off a previous draft of 2.2. Here's the video after the official release: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-azgLNYpgpME.htmlfeature=shared
Yes, as more website owners realize that plugins don't make their websites accessible, the focus will turn to providers who can legitimately help with accessibility. Real AI (not the "AI" claimed by overlay widgets) is advancing accessibility and helping to fix and fix some accessibility issues. But consultants are still desperately needed by website owners. At this point, AI alone isn't going to really help a website owner that is unfamiliar with accessibility.
