When most people ask about ADA compliance for websites, they’re really asking, how do I make sure I don’t get sued over website accessibility?
In this 10-step checklist, we’ll work our way through practical accessibility (preventing a lawsuit) all the way up to best practices for ADA compliance.
This checklist applies to your entire website, but for the purposes of this guide, start with your 5 most important pages.
For example, with ecommerce sites, this means your product search page, product page, cart page, and registration page. Public-facing pages that don’t require login should always take priority.
| Step | Action Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | Alt Text | Most commonly claimed issue in lawsuits. Ensure all images have appropriate alternative text or null alt attribute. |
| Step 2 | Form Field Labels | Frequently claimed issue. All form fields need correctly associated programmatic labels, not just visual labels or placeholders. |
| Step 3 | Keyboard Navigation | Website must be fully navigable using keyboard only (no mouse). Critical issue that regularly shows up in lawsuits. |
| Step 4 | WAVE Scan Errors | Zero errors on WAVE accessibility scan by WebAIM. This scan is used by plaintiffs’ lawyers. |
| Step 5 | Accessibility Statement | Publish accessibility statement. Can be updated as improvements are made. |
| Step 6 | Other Common Issues | Fix 12 other most commonly claimed issues. Full instructions in ADA Compliance Course. |
| Step 7 | WCAG 2.1 AA Conformance | Work towards full WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Previous fixes cover most technical requirements. |
| Step 8 | Website Audit | Hire accessibility expert to verify all fixes are correctly implemented and identify remaining issues. |
| Step 9 | Remediation | Fix all issues found in audit through service providers, in-house teams, or development agencies. |
| Step 10 | User Testing | Testing by professionals with disabilities using assistive technology. More practical than technical audits. |
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Table of Contents
Step 1: Fix Alt Text
Alt text is the single most commonly claimed accessibility issue in website accessibility lawsuits so fix this first. Here are three critical details when fixing alt text:
- Meaningful images must have descriptive alt text
- Linked images must also have alt text
- Decorative images need a null alt attribute
Step 2: Fix Missing Form Field Labels
Missing programmatic form field labels are also frequently claimed lawsuits. Most form fields have a visual label or placeholder, but you must have a correctly associated programmatic label.
Step 3: Ensure Full Keyboard Navigability
You must be able to completely navigate and use your website using only a keyboard (no mouse). If you cannot, you must fix your website so it’s keyboard navigable. This is another critical accessibility issue that comes up a lot in lawsuits.
Step 4: Get to 0 WAVE Scan Errors
The WAVE automated scan by WebAIM is the most popular automated scan. It’s used by everyone – including plaintiffs’ lawyers. Get your errors down to zero.
Neither WAVE nor any other automated scan (e.g., AXE, Google Lighthouse) is an “ADA compliance checker.” This is because they’re limited to flagging only what issues are detectable through automation (about 25% of WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria). You can show zero errors on a scan and still have accessibility issues.
Still, getting to zero errors on WAVE and a 100% score on Google Lighthouse is a nice start and plaintiffs’ lawyers do check scans.
Step 5: Publish an Accessibility Statement
Publish an accessibility statement and link to it from the footer of your website.
If you’re just starting out, you’ll want to keep your statement simple and straightforward. As you invest more in accessibility, you may want to highlight your work in an updated statement.
Step 6: Fix Other Frequently Claimed Issues
We’ve already covered the top 3 claimed accessibility issues, but there are several more (12) issues that plaintiffs’ lawyers repeatedly claim when suing website owners.
We’ve read through hundreds of complaints filed in state and local court by the most active plaintiffs’ law firms.
We created the ADA Compliance Course to explain all of the riskiest accessibility issues. The issues are prioritized inside the course with step-by-step instructions on how to fix them.
When you’ve fixed the top 15 issues, expand your scope beyond your five primary pages to all primary pages of your website – usually 10-15 pages total.
Step 7: Work Towards WCAG 2.1 AA Conformance
By fixing the top 15 issues claimed in lawsuits on your most important pages, you’ve significantly reduced your risk of being sued. After this, work towards full WCAG 2.1 AA conformance by fixing the remaining issues.
You can use a WCAG checklist for this. After fixing the riskiest issues, you’ve already taken care of the hard part.
Step 8: Audit Your Website
Thus far, you’ve made many changes to your website, but have all the fixes been made correctly? Have you worked through all of the important pages of your website?
In step 8, we hire a technical accessibility expert or specialist company to audit our website to make sure 1) the fixes have been made correctly and 2) find the issues you missed.
Step 9: Remediate Your Website
Now that you have a report that details all accessibility issues that remain, it’s time to remediate or fix those issues. You’ll need someone with a development background to make the technical fixes.
After the fixes have been made, have the original auditor validate the issues.
Once WCAG conformance has been validated, ask the company who completed validation for a conformance statement and/or their provider certification. If you purchase user testing (next step), you can also get user testing attestation and a video recording of the session.
This documentation serves as concrete evidence of your accessibility and compliance and can be used to defend and refute any claims of inaccessibility. Having these certifications ready demonstrates your serious commitment to accessibility and provides legal protection.
Step 10: User Testing
The final step that really seals the deal is user testing. User testing is testing that is conducted by an accessibility professional with one or more disabilities. Typically, user testing is conducted by someone who is blind or visually impaired and using screen reader assistive technology.
User testing is related to an audit in that we are trying to find accessibility issues, but it’s more practical and less technical than an audit. An audit is grading your website against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), while user testing is relating issues that the tester experiences.
Summary
In the 10 step checklist above, we progressed from immediately taking action to significantly our risk of being sued all the way to user testing our website to cement our excellent accessibility status.
It is critical that when you source out work, you choose a reputable service provider who does not recommend “automated remediation” or a widget.
Notes
Speed matters more than perfection when starting out. Work fast and be aggressive – it’s better to fix many issues quickly than to have the perfect project setup. The longer your website remains inaccessible, the higher your lawsuit risk. Just by avoiding overlay widgets, plugins, or anything billed as an “instant solution,” you’ve already won a battle that thousands of website owners have lost. These automated “solutions” don’t work whatsoever and websites with widgets installed are specifically targeted by some plaintiffs’ law firms.
- You can skip directly to an audit if you’d prefer a technical expert to conclusively find all issues.
- An audit only finds issues, you still need to fix them.
- Attention to detail is critical when it comes to preventing lawsuits. If you miss a key detail, it can easily lead to a lawsuit — even if you’ve already been sued.
