Get Started with ADA Compliance
To get started with ADA compliance for a website, organizations typically begin with an accessibility evaluation against WCAG 2.1 AA, the technical standard referenced by ADA Title II and widely treated as the practical benchmark under Title III. The evaluation identifies issues, remediation addresses them, and ongoing monitoring keeps the site in conformance as content and code change. The work is sequential, and skipping steps creates the conditions for risk.
| Step | What It Involves |
|---|---|
| Scope | Identify the pages, templates, and user flows that represent the site. |
| Evaluate | Conduct an accessibility audit against WCAG 2.1 AA. Scans flag roughly 25% of issues; the rest requires human evaluation. |
| Remediate | Fix identified issues, prioritized by user impact and risk factor. |
| Document | Publish an accessibility statement and retain audit records. |
| Monitor | Conduct recurring scans and re-evaluate after significant changes. |
Understand Which ADA Rules Apply
The first question is which part of the ADA applies to the organization. Title II covers state and local government entities, and the Department of Justice rule references WCAG 2.1 AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile apps, with set conformance dates based on entity size.
Title III covers places of public accommodation, including most private-sector businesses with consumer-facing websites. Title III does not specify a technical standard for web content, but courts and demand letters commonly reference WCAG 2.1 AA as the working benchmark. Organizations reduce risk by aligning with that standard regardless of which title applies.
Define the Scope of the Work
Accessibility work is scoped at the page or screen level. A representative scope includes the homepage, primary templates, key conversion flows (checkout, account creation, contact), and any high-traffic content pages.
Scoping correctly at the start prevents overspending on redundant template variations and underspending on flows that carry the most user impact. For large sites, a representative sample of templates often covers the underlying code that drives most pages.
Evaluate the Site Against WCAG 2.1 AA
An accessibility audit is the foundation. Audits are conducted by accessibility professionals using screen reader testing, keyboard testing, visual inspection, code inspection, and automated scans as a review component. The audit identifies specific issues, their locations, the WCAG criteria they relate to, and the steps to remediate them.
Automated scans alone are not sufficient. Scans evaluate HTML, CSS, and ARIA attributes against a defined ruleset and flag approximately 25% of issues. The remaining 75% requires human evaluation, including assessment of semantic structure, focus order, name and role accuracy, and how assistive technology actually interacts with the interface.
Most accessibility audits start at 1,000 dollars and range to 3,000 dollars depending on the number of pages, templates, and flows in scope.
Remediate the Issues
The audit report becomes the remediation roadmap. Issues are typically prioritized using two factors: user impact (how much the issue interferes with people using assistive technology) and risk factor (how commonly the issue appears in demand letters and lawsuits).
Internal development teams can complete remediation when they have the WCAG knowledge to apply fixes correctly. When that expertise does not exist in-house, external code remediation services or accessibility training for the development team are the common paths forward. After remediation, a validation pass confirms each issue was resolved without introducing new ones.
Publish an Accessibility Statement
An accessibility statement is a public-facing page that describes the organization’s commitment to accessibility, the standard the site conforms to (typically WCAG 2.1 AA), and a contact method for accessibility feedback. The statement is not itself a legal requirement under Title III, but it documents the organization’s position and provides users a direct channel before they look elsewhere for resolution.
Set Up Ongoing Monitoring
Websites change. Content updates, theme updates, third-party integrations, and new features can introduce accessibility issues into a previously conformant site. Recurring scans (daily, weekly, or monthly) flag regressions early, and periodic re-evaluation against the full WCAG standard catches what scans cannot.
Organizations that maintain conformance over time treat accessibility as a continuous program rather than a one-time project. The evaluation, remediation, and monitoring cycle becomes part of how the site is operated.
Build Internal Capacity
Sustainable ADA conformance depends on the people who design, build, and publish content understanding WCAG. Accessibility training for developers, designers, and content authors reduces the rate at which new issues are introduced and lowers the ongoing cost of remediation. Refer to an ADA website compliance checklist as a starting framework, then expand into role-specific training as the program matures.
Getting started is less about a single action and more about establishing the sequence: scope, evaluate, remediate, document, monitor. Each step informs the next, and the program compounds in value the longer it operates.