Website accessibility has become one of the most important—and most misunderstood—topics in modern web design.
As businesses increasingly rely on their websites to serve customers, accessibility is no longer just a technical consideration or a concern only for large corporations. It’s an essential part of creating an inclusive online experience for everyone.
At Noble Intent, we’ve been designing and building websites since 2011. Throughout the years, we’ve developed a deep understanding of website best practices, user experience, and the importance of accessibility.
Since 2019, we’ve intentionally integrated accessibility techniques into our design and development process to create accessible, ADA compliant websites. Let us be your guide through the confusing regulations surrounding website accessibility.
Our mission is simple: to help create a more inclusive internet.
Website Accessibility Results in Legal Compliance
It’s been less than 40 years since the internet was made available to the public in 1991.
Now, more people are accessing the internet and websites on a wider variety of devices than ever before. Website users are more diverse than at any other point in the World Wide Web’s history.
Throughout the last decade, marketers have been tasked with making websites that are accessible to users on a wide variety of devices—such as smartphones and tablets—a departure from the desktop-only sites created in the first fifteen years of internet history.
Now, with users of all ages and abilities using the internet, we need to create more accessible websites that can be used by anyone, regardless of ability.
If your website isn’t fully accessible yet, you’re not alone. As of 2026, less than 6% of the internet is fully accessible.
In the past, accessibility and ADA compliance were only concerns for government agencies and multinational corporations, but it is now becoming a hot topic for anyone who owns and operates a website for their business or organization.
As you’ll soon learn, the regulations that dictate ADA compliance are moving targets, and compliance varies by country and region.
Unfortunately, some lawyers and website agencies are using fear tactics to scare business owners into settling in court or paying for website updates that may not be necessary. These methods only confuse what ADA compliance truly means and do nothing to aid or improve website experiences for disabled users.
Our goal is to inform you about what you need to focus on to ensure compliance for the sake of the user and to protect yourself from lawsuits.
When a website’s content is available to everyone and can be used by anyone—regardless of their ability—website accessibility is achieved.
We encourage you to shift your thinking away from avoiding lawsuits by adhering to ADA regulations, but rather, toward striving for website accessibility for all users—which will ultimately result in ADA compliance both now and in the future.
What Are ADA Requirements for Websites?
The Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is often associated with physical locations and accommodations certain businesses must make for people with disabilities such as wheelchair accessibility, access to service animals, and the use of braille for customers who are visually-impaired
However, the ADA also extends to websites, requiring businesses to ensure website content is accessible to all users. Website content should be accessible to visually-impaired users who navigate the web by voice, screen readers, and other assistive technologies.
Businesses that are open to the public, or are considered “public accommodation” fall under Title III of the ADA. These include “retail stores and other sales or retail establishments; banks; hotels, inns, and motels; hospitals and medical offices; food and drink establishments; and auditoriums, theaters, and sports arenas.” They are required to comply with a website that provides “full and equal enjoyment of their goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to people with disabilities.”
In the U.S., there are no enforceable ADA legal standards to follow for website accessibility, apart from those in place for government websites.
“As far as websites go, there is no federally codified direction on how to make websites comply,” said David Engelhardt, a New York City-based small business attorney. “We only know that the ADA does apply to websites based on cases, such as Gil v. Winn-Dixie.”
Source: Courthousenews.com
Regulations & Milestones
Throughout the years, the DOJ has made attempts to regulate website accessibility. The timeline below highlights some of the most important events that shaped accessibility on the internet.
- 1990: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) helped create more accessible physical spaces in the United States
- 1991: Internet available to the public
- 2000: Bank of America became the first bank to settle with disability rights advocacy groups by making its web-site accessible to blind and vision-impaired customer
- 2003: DOJ published Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites toPeople with Disabilities
- 2007: iPhone available to the public
- 2010: DOJ published an ANPRM titled Nondiscriminationon the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of WebInformation and Services of State and Local Government Entities and Public Accommodation
- 2018: DOJ eliminates regulations after withdrawing four rule-making attempts to address website accessibility and the ADA
- 2019: Design for Inclusion becomes a hot topic for business leaders and web designers
- 2022: DOJ releases Guidance on 2022 Web Accessibility and the ADA for businesses and state and local government
The Americans with Disabilities Act applies to state and local governments (Title II) and businesses that are open to the public (Title III).
Essentially, in the U.S., there are no current laws to abide by, only guidelines. But that hasn’t stopped lawsuits from occurring. According to their guidelines released in 2022:
… the ADA’s requirements apply to all the services, programs, or activities of state and local governments, [as well as] … goods, services, privileges, or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web.”
Businesses and state and local governments can currently choose how they will ensure that the programs, services, and goods they provide online are accessible to people with disabilities.
The Current State of Lawsuits
Usablenet.com tracked more than 5,000 web accessibility lawsuits in 2026, with the numbers increasing each year.
Their 2025 year-end report showed that eCommerce websites receive the most lawsuits (70%), followed by food service (21%). Healthcare and Fitness & Wellness have become the third most targeted industry at 2% each.
Lawsuits are only occurring in a handful of states, including primarily California, NewYork, and Florida.
Sixty-four percent of companies that received lawsuits had annual revenues of less than $25M. Lawsuits against enterprise companies and well-known brands with significant website traffic continue to rise.
Accessibility widgets will not safeguard companies from lawsuits. In fact, 28% of lawsuits in 2025 were filed against companies whose websites included an accessibility widget.
Whether your priority is brand reputation, search engine optimization, conversions, revenue, customer service, or simply protection from lawsuits—designing for accessibility is a must.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
There are many guidelines available that outline how to best provide an accessible experience for users.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops Web standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The most recent version, 2.2, was published in 2023.
The WCAG make a wide range of recommendations for making the Web more accessible for people with disabilities, “including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photo-sensitivity, and combinations of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations; but will not address every user need for people with these disabilities.”
Many tools exist to help you assess and test your website. These tools help you demonstrate that your business has made a good-faith effort toward compliance and will help your business avoid the penalties associated with the ADA, including lawsuits, financial penalties, and loss of brand reputation.
You can begin by checking the current state of your website’s compliance by using WAVE’s Web Accessibility Tool. Just type in your website address at wave.webaim.org, and this tool will begin to compile a report with any issues you might have.
Then, follow our guide to making design and code improvements on your website. Small changes can make big improvements in achieving accessibility.
This blog is part of our Website Accessibility Guide, a series exploring how businesses can build more inclusive websites.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- Why website accessibility matters and the impact it has on your bottom line
- How to design and build inclusive websites to provide a better experience for all of your customers
- How to implement simple changes to create websites that can be accessed by people of all abilities, and ensure usability for assistive technologies
Click here to download the complete guide as a PDF. You can also continue following along as we publish additional articles from the guide here on our blog.
Let’s create a more inclusive internet together!