Website accessibility and the ADA
Does your website need to be accessible? Here is what the Department of Justice says.
If your business is open to the public, the Department of Justice says the goods and services you offer online must be accessible to people with disabilities. Below is what that means, what it does not mean, and where to start. General information, not legal advice.
The short answer
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers businesses open to the public. In its web guidance, the Department of Justice says it has “consistently taken the position that the ADA's requirements apply to all the goods, services, privileges, or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web.”
In plain terms: if a customer can book, buy, read, or contact you on your website, a customer with a disability should be able to do the same.
Source: Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA, U.S. Department of Justice, March 18, 2022.
There is no official checklist for businesses
The same guidance says the Department “does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards” for business websites, and that businesses “have flexibility in how they comply.” It points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as helpful guidance.
That has two consequences. First, WCAG is the benchmark commonly used for business websites. Egmer Consulting tests against WCAG 2.2 AA, the current version. Second, there is no official ADA certificate for a website. Anyone selling one is selling paper.
Government and healthcare have their own rules
State and local governments fall under Title II of the ADA, and a 2024 Department of Justice rule set WCAG 2.1 AA as their standard. Organizations that receive funding from the Department of Health and Human Services have a separate web accessibility rule under Section 504.
Both rules carry compliance dates, and those dates have changed. If either applies to you, check ada.gov and hhs.gov for the current ones and talk to an attorney.
Why businesses act on this
When a website does not work for a customer, that customer can leave for a competitor. Website accessibility lawsuits are also common: Seyfarth Shaw counted 3,117 in federal courts in 2025, not counting state courts, and UsableNet found that 64% of the companies sued reported annual revenue under $25 million.
No one can honestly promise you will never face a claim. What you can control is whether your site works for the people trying to use it, and whether you have a dated record of the work.
Straight answers
Does my website need to be ADA compliant?
If your business is open to the public, the Department of Justice says the goods and services you offer online must be accessible to people with disabilities. There is no official ADA compliance certificate for a website, because the Department has not adopted a regulation with technical standards for private businesses. WCAG is the benchmark commonly used for business websites. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is WCAG a legal requirement?
For private businesses, no regulation names WCAG as the required standard. The Department of Justice points to WCAG as helpful guidance. For state and local governments, the Department adopted WCAG 2.1 AA in a 2024 rule.
Is there a deadline for business websites?
There is no ADA website deadline for private businesses, because there is no technical regulation for them. Separate rules with their own compliance dates cover state and local governments and organizations that receive funding from the Department of Health and Human Services. Those dates have changed, so check ada.gov and hhs.gov for the current ones.
Can I be sued over my website?
Yes, it happens. Seyfarth Shaw counted 3,117 website accessibility lawsuits in federal courts in 2025, not counting state courts. No one can promise you will never face a claim. Talk to an attorney about your situation.
Where do I start?
Run a free automated scan for a first look, then have a person test the site with a keyboard and a screen reader. Automated tools catch part of the problem, not all of it.
See where your website stands
Enter your website address for a free automated scan. It shows the issues software can detect, in plain language, in about a minute. Then read how to make a website accessible, or see what a human audit covers.
General information, not legal advice.