What Is Web Accessibility? A Business Owner’s Guide to ADA Compliance

If you own a business, manage a website, or work with government clients, there’s a date you need to know: April 24, 2026. That’s when new ADA web accessibility requirements take effect for many organizations. If that sounds far away, it’s not. We’re already in the countdown.

This guide walks you through what web accessibility actually means, who needs to comply, and why this matters for your business. No jargon, no fluff. Just what you need to know to get started.

What Is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the web, and they can contribute to the web.

Think about it this way: if someone uses a screen reader because they’re blind, can they navigate your website? If someone has limited hand mobility and can’t use a mouse, can they still fill out your contact form using only a keyboard? If someone has low vision and needs high contrast, can they read your text?

Web accessibility covers all disabilities that affect access to the web, including:

• Visual disabilities (blindness, low vision, color blindness)
• Auditory disabilities (deafness, hard of hearing)
• Physical disabilities (limited hand mobility, paralysis)
• Speech disabilities (difficulty speaking)
• Cognitive disabilities (learning disabilities, memory issues)
• Neurological disabilities (epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease)

Here’s something important: accessibility doesn’t just help people with permanent disabilities. It also helps people with temporary limitations (like a broken arm) and situational limitations (like holding a baby while trying to use your phone). The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative emphasizes that accessible design benefits everyone.

Who Does the ADA Apply To?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been around since 1990, but web accessibility wasn’t clearly addressed until recently. In April 2024, the Department of Justice published a rule that sets specific technical requirements for web and mobile app accessibility.

State and Local Governments

The new rule applies to “public entities,” which means state and local governments. This includes:

• State governments
• County governments
• City and town governments
• Public schools and universities
• Public libraries
• Special district governments (like water districts, transit authorities, zoning districts)

According to ADA.gov guidance, the compliance deadline depends on population size:

• April 24, 2026: State or local governments with a population of 50,000 or more
• April 26, 2027: State or local governments with a population of 0 to 49,999
• April 26, 2027: Special district governments (regardless of size)

What About Private Businesses?

Here’s where it gets relevant for private companies: if you work with state or local governments, you’re affected. Let’s say you’re a web development company that builds websites for cities, schools, or public universities. Your government clients will need their sites to be accessible, which means you need to build accessible sites.

Even if you don’t work directly with governments, the ADA Title III applies to “public accommodations,” which includes many private businesses. While the new rule specifically addresses Title II (state and local governments), courts have increasingly ruled that Title III also requires web accessibility for businesses open to the public.

As UNC’s Digital Accessibility Office notes, this impacts everyone involved in creating digital content, including faculty, staff, students, and the vendors they work with.

Understanding WCAG Guidelines

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These are the technical standards that tell you exactly how to make your website accessible. The Department of Justice rule requires compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

What Does “WCAG 2.1 Level AA” Mean?

Let’s break it down:

• WCAG: The guidelines themselves, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• 2.1: The version number (published in 2018, with updates in 2023, 2024, and 2025)
• Level AA: The conformance level (there are three: A, AA, and AAA)

WCAG is organized around four principles, often remembered by the acronym POUR:

1. Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means providing text alternatives for images, captions for videos, and content that can be presented in different ways.
2. Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. Users should be able to navigate using a keyboard, have enough time to read content, and avoid content that causes seizures.
3. Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. Text should be readable, content should operate in predictable ways, and users should be helped to avoid and correct mistakes.
4. Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means using valid HTML and ensuring compatibility with current and future tools.

Under each principle are guidelines, and under each guideline are testable success criteria. Level AA includes all Level A criteria plus additional AA-level criteria. According to W3C, WCAG 2.1 has 13 guidelines organized under these four principles.

WCAG 2.1 vs. 2.2: Which One?

You might be wondering about WCAG 2.2, which was published in October 2023. The DOJ rule specifically requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA, but here’s the good news: WCAG versions are backward compatible. If you meet WCAG 2.2, you automatically meet WCAG 2.1 and 2.0.

Some organizations, like UNC Chapel Hill, are already aiming for WCAG 2.2 compliance to future-proof their work. The choice depends on your situation, but aiming for the latest version is never a bad idea.

Common Accessibility Barriers

Understanding what makes a website inaccessible is the first step toward fixing it. Here are some of the most common barriers people with disabilities encounter:

Images Without Alt Text

When an image doesn’t have alternative text (alt text), screen reader users hear nothing or just “image.” They miss the information that sighted users get. For example, if your homepage has a photo of your team with the caption “Our dedicated staff,” but no alt text, a screen reader user won’t know what the image shows.

Poor Color Contrast

Light gray text on a white background might look sleek, but it’s nearly impossible to read for people with low vision. WCAG requires specific contrast ratios between text and background colors.

Keyboard Traps

Some websites let you tab into a component (like a video player or dropdown menu) but not tab out. If someone can’t use a mouse and relies on keyboard navigation, they’re stuck.

Missing Form Labels

Forms without proper labels are confusing for screen reader users. A field might say “Enter your email” visually, but if there’s no programmatic label, a screen reader user won’t know what to enter.

Videos Without Captions

Uncaptioned videos are inaccessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They’re also helpful for people watching without sound (like in a noisy environment or a quiet office).

Inaccessible PDFs

PDFs are often forgotten in accessibility efforts. A scanned PDF is just an image to a screen reader. PDFs need proper tags, reading order, and text alternatives for images.

The W3C has resources showing how people with disabilities use the web, which can help you understand these barriers from a human perspective.

Why Compliance Matters

Accessibility compliance isn’t just about checking boxes. There are real consequences for ignoring it, and real benefits for embracing it.

Legal Risks

Non-compliance opens you up to several types of legal action:

• Lawsuits: Private individuals can file lawsuits under the ADA. Digital accessibility lawsuits have increased dramatically in recent years.
• Federal complaints: For government entities, individuals can file complaints with the Department of Justice.
• Loss of contracts: If you’re a vendor working with governments, inaccessible products could disqualify you from bids.

Reputation and Trust

When someone can’t use your website because of accessibility barriers, they notice. And they tell others. Inaccessible websites signal that you haven’t thought about all your customers. On the flip side, accessible websites show that you value inclusivity.

Market Opportunity

About 1 in 4 American adults has a disability, according to CDC data. That’s a huge market segment. When your website is accessible, you’re not avoiding lawsuits. You’re opening your business to more customers.

SEO Benefits

Many accessibility practices also improve search engine optimization. Alt text helps search engines understand images. Proper heading structure helps search engines understand your content. Transcripts and captions add indexable text. Accessible websites tend to rank better.

It’s Just the Right Thing to Do

Beyond legal requirements and business benefits, there’s a simple ethical argument: everyone should be able to access your website. The internet has become essential for daily life. Shopping, banking, education, government services, healthcare. If your website isn’t accessible, you’re excluding people from participating fully in society.

As the team at UNC’s Digital Accessibility Office puts it: “Digital accessibility increases usability for everyone.” Accessibility isn’t a burden. It’s good design.

Next Steps

So where do you go from here? If you’re a business owner or website manager, here’s how to get started:

1. Learn the basics: Spend time on ADA.gov and W3C’s WAI resources. Understanding the requirements is the first step.
2. Audit your current site: Use free tools like WAVE, axe, or Lighthouse to identify accessibility issues. These won’t catch everything, but they’re a good starting point.
3. Prioritize fixes: Start with high-impact, easy fixes. Add alt text to images. Fix color contrast issues. Make sure your site works with a keyboard.
4. Train your team: If you have content creators, developers, or designers, make sure they understand accessibility basics.
5. Consider professional help: For comprehensive compliance, consider hiring an accessibility specialist. They can do a full audit and guide your remediation efforts.

At Wichita Designs, we help businesses build accessible websites from the ground up. Whether you need a full site audit, remediation of an existing site, or a new accessible website, our web design team can help. Learn more about our approach to inclusive design.

The April 2026 deadline will arrive whether you’re ready or not. The question is: will your website be ready too?

Want to learn more about making the business case for accessibility? Check out our next article in this series: “Why Web Accessibility Matters for Your Business in 2026.” Or explore more resources on our blog.