Committed to Accessibility and Inclusion

At JVM, we go the extra mile to solve many accessibility issues during design and development of a website. Most of our websites reach 85% compliance due to our efforts.

We realize that 100% compliance can be costly to achieve for a small business or non-profit organization so we’ve partnered with Equalize Digital to extend those services.

Want to learn more about ADA Compliance requirements? Check out our blog post on the topic or read more below.

What is ADA and WCAG?

  • The ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act, an American civil rights law passed in 1990.
  • The WCAG is a massive guidebook that explains how accessible websites should look and operate for people with disabilities.
  • While it is not stated in the ADA, the WCAG has been widely accepted as the industry standard for being ADA-compliant.
  • By following the WCAG guidelines, you are making your website ADA-compliant.

How JVM addresses ADA compliance on each website build…

With each new website we design and build, we try and cover the basics (Level AA compliance) up-front.

These can include:

Color Contrast
A minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. This ensures that text is sufficiently distinguishable from its background.  

Keyboard Accessibility
Ensuring that all website functionality is operable through a keyboard, without requiring a mouse.  

Heading Structure
Using headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) in a logical and hierarchical order to provide clear structure and navigation.  

Consistent Navigation
Maintaining consistent navigation elements across the website, so users can easily find their way around.  

Captions
Providing captions for live audio and video content.

Form Labels
Ensuring that form fields have clear and accurate labels. We also use the Gravity Forms plugin, which has done a great job to ensure accessibility features.

Orientation
Ensuring content is available in both vertical and horizontal device orientations.

Scanning
We utilize Equalize Digital’s Accessibility Checker WordPress plugin to help identify and fix issues.

ADA Compliance not only helps all visitors to your site, but can help protect your business or organization.

In 2024, over 4000 lawsuits were filed against companies because their websites presented accessibility barriers (check out UsableNet’s Web and App Lawsuit Report for even more stats).

Accessibility widgets (sometimes also called “overlays”) don’t always fix underlying issues and can have the potential to cause technical issues for visitors using assistive technology, like screen readers.

Over 1,000 (more than 25% of cases) businesses were sued even though they were using accessibility widgets. Even though many services claim to provide 100% compliance and ensure customers they will win any lawsuit, that does not appear to be 100% accurate.

There are certain companies that are more of a “target” for these lawsuits:

  • companies with multiple brands;
  • ecommerce websites;
  • companies who have had previous lawsuits;
  • companies doing business in New York state as the courts are more open to hearing cases where companies have a website but no physical location.

But any company or organization with a website, could potentially be a target. It’s also important to note that states may pass their own laws when it comes to website accessibility.

What happens if you become a target?

The chain of events typically starts with a company receiving a demand letter from an individual or advocacy group alleging non-compliance. In the letter, there is usually a request that the company remediate (fix) its website within a specified timeframe. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) itself doesn’t provide a specific “grace period” for website remediation, so what is in the letter is a request from the party sending it.

You would then need seek legal counsel and work with your web developer and possibly an agency experienced in accessibility remediation.

The very best approach is to do your best to address accessibility on your website to avoid becoming a target in the first place.