The Truth Behind ADA Compliance and Why You Shouldn't Worry (Part Three!)

This blog will be dedicated to our continued discussion about what it means to be ADA compliant and the best route to follow when pursuing that goal. More questions will hopefully be answered for you, and more advice will be provided on this difficult topic that has little legal ground and ruling to guide anyone through the process! 

Hello, my dear and wonderful Summerville! How are you, dear readers? So glad you've made it to the Creative Consulting blog. We hope that where ever you might be, that you're happy and well! Also, if you're finding yourself reading one of your very first Creative Consulting blogs right now, please note that this blog is part three of an ongoing discussion about ADA compliance, and to fully get out of it what we feel is best, we encourage you to go back and read the first two blogs in this series!

How are you doing so far in your 2021? Are you still working towards your business goals? Have you been following the plans you created for yourself last year to find success this year? After how tumultuous 2020 was, outside of making some of the most necessary and important goals for yourself and your business, it might have been hard to see a bigger picture while walking into 2021! This blog is, of course, a safe space for all of our readers and fellow business owners. If you were struggling with your goals and resolutions for 2021, we have one that you can work towards, and we won't even tell anyone that you made this resolution after the ball dropped! Why not strive towards becoming as ADA compliant as possible in 2021? 

Becoming ADA compliant, as we have been talking about through this blog series, is important ground to break for your company, while it is also very shaky ground at the same time. While it is something that is pressing for every website to have and heavily suggested to implement into your website by the WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), we must remind all of our readers that there are still no official laws or rules about being ADA compliant. However, striving to make your virtual fingerprint enjoyable and accessible to anyone and everyone that visits your website is an incredibly powerful business move. Being inclusive in your web viewing audience is not only kind to humanity, but it can also help with your company's growth and sales. Being kind and growing exponentially at the same time? Sounds pretty perfect to us! However, while we have covered a lot of information on the topic, we wanted to finish out this blog series with just a little bit more about ADA compliance! 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BEING ADA COMPLIANT? 

• First and foremost the best thing about ADA compliance is that it benefits everyone, and allows all citizens to have equal access to everything on your website. 
• One of the most important things in creating and building your company is knowing your target audience and continuing to increase it. Knowing who exactly benefits and wants your products or services makes advertising, developing more products, and keeping yourself above and beyond your competitors very easy. Allowing anyone to enjoy and view your website will increase your target audience without hesitation, allowing your business to potentially grow exponentially. Not having an ADA compliant website can lead you to lose millions of potential customers due to their disabilities. Not only is this incredibly offensive to this audience, but you are also standing in your way of continued growth as a company. If someone is unable to navigate your website, unable to access it, and unable to contact you, this will automatically turn them off and turn them away. It could even cause this individual to move onto your competitors. 
• Not being ADA compliant according to the most recent requirements can lead to your company being hit with some significant lawsuits or fines that could lead to serious money issues or even bankruptcy. 
• According to the Corporate Web Services Blog, a safe harbor clause does exist that allows the content on your website to remain the same unless it has been altered or created after 2018. If it has been altered after 2018, then it must be brought up to current ADA compliant standards. 
• Having a fully ADA compliant website can benefit all users, not just those with disabilities. Making a website easy to navigate and access helps all users. Also, ADA compliance can help your standings with your SEO and Google Rankings. 
• Not only are you making your entire potential and current customer base happy with an ADA compliant website, but you are also improving your reputation. Word of mouth can be the most powerful advertisement tool, and a pleased customer who truly enjoyed their experience working with you and who felt included will be very likely to share that outcome. They will feel appreciated and valued, which will inspire them to come back for more, especially if they've come across one website too many that wasn't ADA compliant. This will make your website stand out. Just the knowledge and fact that you put the effort and the time into guaranteeing that your website is ADA compliant is a really big deal. It is yet another way to set yourself above and beyond your competitors. In a sense, becoming ADA compliant can be its version of good free press for your website and your company. 
• For all of our fellow designers, builders, and coders alike ADA compliance in this current stage might seem very overwhelming, and you might be dreading the workload that could be coming your way. However, the silver lining is that in making these changes to your website, you might be ending up with a higher quality of code and product overall. Not only will this offer all the benefits that come with being ADA compliant, but it can also help your website have fewer bugs, faster loading speeds, and a much higher SEO ranking! 

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE RISKS OF NOT BEING ADA COMPLIANT? 
While this topic is still an incredibly grey area, that doesn't mean taking the risk of not being ADA compliant is the way to go. There are still many risk factors that you could be facing. Remember, Creative Consulting can help you through the process and you must be very careful when approached by online poachers or online ambulance chasers. Their sole goal is to target websites and business owners unaware of ADA compliance and scaring them into paying huge sums of money for their so-called safety. Well, we guarantee that this is very false information. However, if you are choosing not to be ADA compliant and choosing not to make these adjustable steps, that's a different situation. 

• You could end up with a huge lawsuit in your lap from another professional or the individual unable to view your website because they need it to be ADA compliant. 
• Legal fees could be heading your way. 
• You could be facing high costs of rebuilding your entire website to comply with the ADA compliance guidelines. 
• Your company could face some very ugly public relations issues, leading to a bad reputation, loss of clientele, and a drastic drop in sales. 
• To avoid a lawsuit, you might instead face a settlement outside of court which can be just as expensive as a court case. 
• You would be ostracising a huge group of individuals who deserve the right to view and access your website for your goods and services. 
• You could be facing civil fines in the $55,000 or more range that will be paid to the government if you do get into legal issues. 
• If your brick and mortar storefront is ADA compliant, but your website is found not to be, your entire staff could be made to take an ADA compliance course. 

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT NOW? 
We are not downplaying the fact that ADA compliance hasn't been important since the use of the internet became widespread and used by millions every day. However, as the years go on and we all become more and more connected thanks to the overwhelming and impressive power of the internet, now might be more important than ever to be ADA compliant. 

• We've all be at home way more thanks to the pandemic, and using our computers and smart devices to work from home and to entertain ourselves. Imagine running into an important website or platform needed to proficiently do your job at home, but due to the lack of if being ADA compliant, you are unable to. Not only can this be frustrating and potentially embarrassing, but this can also lead to difficulties at work and potentially being let go, causing you to lose very important income. 
• Millions of children are still participating in distance learning, using their smart devices and the internet to stay connected, learn, and experience life with their classmates. What happens if your child comes across a website that all of their classmates can enjoy, but because it is not ADA compliant, they can't? How will that damage their lessons, education, and communication with their classmates?
• The pandemic has also caused us to see how many individuals use the internet to buy important products like medicine, medical equipment, tools, food, and other supplies. The pandemic has made us realize online shopping is one of the safest ways to go about running your errands. If an individual is unable to access a website with the products they need and they are unable to get in touch with someone because the website isn't ADA compatible, the outcome could be catastrophic! 
• Remember that moving businesses remotely has been one of the main reasons why millions of businesses have been able to survive the pandemic themselves. However, not being ADA compliant can dry up your online customer base, leaving you as a business owner in a very dangerous professional position. 

The big takeaway that we want to give each of our readers to have from this blog series is the fact that becoming ADA compliant is simple, necessary, but nothing you should be afraid of. Work with the correct individuals, like us, to help you reach this goal and you could potentially see your business grow exponentially. Honestly, there is also no question about it. It is a company's responsibility to every citizen to allow them access to their website. It's the right thing to do, it's our duty to humanity, and not being ADA compliant is discriminatory, which is beyond unacceptable in our books. As online designers, what is also unacceptable is big web design moguls using scare tactics to prey on unaware and uneducated business owners. It is our responsibility, as business owners, to help them, educate them, eradicate fear, and bring everyone smoothly and safely into the kind and generous world of ADA compliance! Until next time, stay safe and caffeinated Summerville!

To learn even more in-depth information and to stay up to date on ADA Compliance, please visit their website: https://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap5toolkit.htm