ADA website compliance: what US law requires

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 predates the web, but it is the reason US businesses receive accessibility demand letters and lawsuits by the thousands every year. Here is how it applies to websites, which standard courts use, and how to lower your risk.

Title III: businesses open to the public

• Title III prohibits discrimination by “places of public accommodation” — shops, restaurants, hotels, banks, clinics and similar. The Department of Justice has long taken the position that this covers the websites of such businesses.
• There is no formal Title III web regulation. Courts fill the gap and overwhelmingly use WCAG 2.1 Level AA (previously 2.0 AA) as the de-facto standard in settlements and consent decrees.
• Federal circuits differ on whether a website must have a nexus to a physical location; in New York and California — where most cases are filed — plaintiffs rarely need one in practice.

Title II: state and local government

• In April 2024 the DOJ published a final rule requiring state and local government websites and mobile apps to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
• Deadlines: April 2026 for entities serving 50,000 or more people; April 2027 for smaller entities and special districts.
• Public universities, school districts, transit agencies and any vendor whose product is used by them are affected.

The litigation reality

• Several thousand federal and state web-accessibility lawsuits are filed each year, plus a far larger number of demand letters that never reach court.
• Typical targets: e-commerce, food & beverage, fashion, healthcare providers, and small businesses with simple templates.
• Sites using an accessibility overlay continue to be sued; a widget is not a defence.
• Typical resolution: settlement in the five-figure range plus a commitment to reach WCAG 2.1 AA within a set period — i.e. you end up doing the remediation anyway, with legal fees on top.

How to reduce risk

• Audit now: run an automated WCAG 2.1 AA scan of your key journeys to find the most common triggers (missing alt text, unlabelled forms, low contrast, keyboard traps, missing link text).
• Fix in code, starting with critical and serious issues, and re-scan to verify.
• Add manual checks for keyboard navigation and screen-reader use on checkout and account flows.
• Publish an accessibility statement with a working contact for barrier reports — a documented, responsive process is one of the strongest signals of good faith.
• Keep evidence: dated audit reports and a remediation log show progress if a claim arrives.
• Monitor after every release; most lawsuits cite issues that regressed after a redesign.

Section 508 and state laws

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act binds federal agencies and their vendors to WCAG 2.0 AA (via the 2017 refresh). Several states (California's Unruh Act, New York's human-rights law) add damages on top of the ADA — one reason California and New York dominate the case statistics.

References: ADA.gov web accessibility guidance · Title II web rule fact sheet. This guide is general information, not legal advice; ADA exposure depends on your jurisdiction and business type.