Hotel Law Blog: Businesses Should Look at WCAG 2.2 AA Standard

Just yesterday, on July 24, 2024, the Hotel Law Blog published a solid post on ADA website compliance titled, ADA Defense Lawyer: WCAG 2.2: Website Accessibility Standards Get an Update – What Businesses Should Know.

Let’s cover the key bullet points and add our commentary.

WCAG 2.2 Concern

First, the article introduces the new WCAG 2.2 version update from October 2023, providing a quick checklist of the success criteria. By the way, you can download our full WCAG 2.2 AA guide on our WCAG page.

Just below the checklist is this line:

Many in the business community are concerned that adding more criteria raises the difficulty for entities already striving to comply with earlier versions.

Yes. Even though there are just six additional AA success criteria, it takes a herculean effort just for the vast majority of website owner / operators to reach and maintain WCAG 2.1 AA conformance.

This is, in part, why we always start with WCAG 2.1 AA as a best practice and not WCAG 2.2 AA. Of course, it’s optimal for websites to meet the higher version, but we recommend starting with 2.1 and then building on top of it with a mini 2.2 project rather than trying for 2.2 conformance all at once.

WCAG 3.0

Next, the article addresses the W3C’s Web Access Initiative (WAI) group working on WCAG 3.0 standards. The author, Stuart K. Tubis, a partner attorney at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, says that the recent 2.2 update and potential 3.0 update highlights the need for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use it’s own judgment on the right path forward. Tubis cites the significant resources already involved in web accessibility and how entities shouldn’t face a constantly shifting target.

Good points. The DOJ already demonstrated that it won’t simply follow whatever the W3C publishes when it elected for WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard for the new update to Title II.

As far as 3.0, we might not see it for another decade and that’s very likely for the better. 3.0 is a major, major overhaul that currently offers a litany of potential changes including a scoring system. New standards for new and emerging technologies makes sense, but otherwise 3.0, so far, reads as unrealistic and impractical.

The good news is 3.0 is a long way away, if it ever gets published in its current form. As shown with the year+ 2.2 delays, the WAI has trouble coming to a consensus and 3.0 is a cauldron of never-ending discussion points.

WCAG 2.1 or 2.2?

The post ends with Tubis suggesting that businesses “take a closer look at their websites to ensure that they meet the WCAG 2.1 AA and perhaps even 2.2 AA standards.”

It’s always best if you can enhance accessibility so we agree, a push to 2.2 is optimal. And we have seen some plaintiffs’ lawyers even claim 2.2 AA issues in complaints filed in court.

With that said, if you’re taking on remediation in-house or using a development agency without expertise and experience in website accessibility, we recommend starting working towards WCAG 2.1 AA conformance first. There’s already a lot of work to do.

WCAG Training

To learn about all of the WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 AA success criteria, sign up for our WCAG Course. We have lessons with plain English explanations for all success criteria.

Services

If you need help with making your website ADA compliant, contact us or visit our services page to learn more about our audit, remediation, and user testing services.

We also issue certification documentation upon full conformance. Visit our documents page to see example templates of our documentation.

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Kris Rivenburgh

Kris Rivenburgh

Kris Rivenburgh is the founder of Accessible.org, LLC. Kris is an attorney and the author of The ADA Book, the first book on ADA compliance for digital assets. With seven years of experience in digital accessibility and ADA Compliance, Kris advises clients ranging from small businesses to public entities and Fortune 500 companies.