During the internet’s early stages in 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. This piece of legislation requires public places like restaurants, stores and hotels to be completely accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Today, the definition of a “place of public accommodation” has expanded to include the internet, and privately-owned websites are expected to make adjustments accordingly. In fact, many private businesses, like Domino’s Pizza and prestigious universities like Harvard, have faced legal action for having websites that do not make concessions towards accessibility.
During the first six months of 2018, almost 5,000 lawsuits were filed in Federal court against websites that did not, in their view, meet accessibility standards. Since many important tasks like sales and job postings are now commonplace on the internet, websites need to be accessible for everyone, just like brick-and-mortar establishments.
This set of standards is designed to be used primarily by web designers and web developers. Together, these guidelines dictate that all websites must follow four important principles. Not only will these guidelines help everyone understand a website’s content, but they also provide a few important optimization advantages.
Fat Guy Media is committed to confronting the challenges of making websites accessible. Our accessibility solution was developed over the course of 18 months alongside people with disabilities, including blind individuals who are leading experts in assistive technologies.