Business website accessibility
Your website is often one of the first places customers interact with your business. They may use it to compare services, schedule an appointment, make a purchase, complete a form, view a menu, or contact your staff.
When a website can't be used with a specialised keyboard, screen reader, keyboard-only setup, magnification software, or other assistive technology, people with disabilities may be unable to access the same information and services available to other customers.
The Department of Justice states that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to businesses open to the public and that their goods and services—including those offered online—must be accessible to people with disabilities.
The legal landscape
Although the Department of Justice has not established a single technical standard for private business websites, WCAG Level AA is widely used as a practical accessibility benchmark and has been referenced in settlements, consent decrees, and court orders.The absence of an official standard hasn't slowed litigation; it's actually made it harder for businesses to know exactly what's expected, which is part of the problem.
Businesses currently have flexibility in how they provide accessible online goods and services. The DOJ identifies the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, as helpful technical guidance, but it does not describe WCAG as the only permissible method of meeting Title III obligations.
In practice, many organizations use WCAG 2.1 or WCAG 2.2 Level AA as a working accessibility benchmark because the guidelines provide measurable requirements for common website barriers.
There is also no single federal Title III website-compliance deadline comparable to the deadlines established for state and local government websites.
Lawsuits are accelerating
Web accessibility litigation is the fastest-growing segment of ADA enforcement. The numbers tell the story:
- 3,117 federal website-accessibility lawsuits in 2025
- 27% increase over 2024
- 36% of all federal ADA Title III lawsuits in 2025
These aren't just large corporations. Businesses of all sizes receive demand letters and lawsuits, and the trend is expanding beyond e-commerce into healthcare, hospitality, financial services, and food and beverage.
What a demand letter looks like
Most accessibility claims don't start with a lawsuit. They start with a demand letter — a letter from an attorney representing a person with a disability who encountered barriers on your website. The letter typically identifies specific accessibility violations, cites the ADA, and demands a settlement payment along with a commitment to remediate.
Demand letter settlements typically range from $1,000 to $25,000. Ignoring a demand letter can lead to a federal or state lawsuit, where costs escalate significantly — settlements commonly range from $5,000 to $50,000, and total costs including legal fees and remediation can reach $100,000 or more. In California, the Unruh Civil Rights Act allows damages of $4,000 per violation per visit on top of federal relief.
The most common issues cited in demand letters include missing alt text on images, poor color contrast, inaccessible forms, keyboard navigation failures, and missing or incorrect heading structure — many of which are straightforward to fix proactively.
Who's most at risk
Any business with a public-facing website has potential exposure, but some industries are targeted more frequently:
E-commerce and retail account for roughly 70% of all web accessibility lawsuits. Complex product pages, shopping carts, and checkout flows create multiple points where accessibility can break down.
Food and beverage is the second most targeted sector at about 21% of cases, driven largely by online ordering systems.
Healthcare is a growing target, especially ahead of Section 504 requirements for organizations that receive federal funding.
Hospitality and travel face claims around booking systems, reservation portals, and property information pages.
Small businesses are not exempt. The ADA applies to businesses of all sizes, and plaintiff attorneys increasingly use automated scanning tools to identify targets, meaning a five-page website for a local restaurant can receive the same demand letter as a Fortune 500 retailer.
What you can do
Addressing accessibility barriers proactively may reduce disruption, remediation costs, and legal risk. Here's a practical approach:
Audit your website. Start with an automated scan to identify obvious issues — missing alt text, contrast failures, empty headings, unlabeled form fields. Then supplement with manual testing (keyboard navigation, screen reader testing) to catch the 60–70% of issues that automated tools miss.
Fix the highest-impact issues first. Navigation, forms, checkout flows, and content pages that drive the most traffic. These are the areas most likely to generate complaints and the easiest places to demonstrate good-faith effort.
Build accessibility into your process. Train your team. Require WCAG conformance from developers and content creators. Test before you publish, not after you receive a demand letter.
Document your efforts. Documenting testing, reported problems, and completed improvements can help demonstrate an organized and ongoing accessibility program. Having an accessibility statement, an ongoing remediation plan, and records of testing and fixes demonstrates that your organization takes its obligations seriously.
Overlays are not the answer
An overlay on your website may actually increase your legal risk by creating a false sense of compliance while leaving real barriers in place.
Start With Practical Improvements
Businesses don't need to wait for a complaint before improving accessibility. A sensible first step is to identify the pages and functions customers rely on most, correct serious barriers, and include accessibility in future website updates.
Priorities often include:
- Making navigation and controls keyboard accessible
- Correcting low-contrast text and interface elements
- Labeling forms clearly
- Adding appropriate image alternatives
- Captioning important videos
- Testing booking, checkout, and contact processes
- Providing a clear way to report accessibility problems
Accessibility is an ongoing process rather than a one-time plugin, scan, or certification.
How we can help
We provide accessibility audits and remediation for business websites, combining automated scanning with manual expert testing against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We don't just hand you a report and wish you luck. We identify the barriers, prioritize what to fix first, and do the remediation work ourselves.
Learn about our ADA audit & remediation services →
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