ADA Compliance Guide

Is your website
ADA compliant?

The ADA requires websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. Courts measure compliance against WCAG 2.1 AA — and enforcement is accelerating.

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4,800+ADA lawsuits filed in 2024
$35KAverage ADA lawsuit settlement
June 2025ADA took full effect
78%WCAG issues detected automatically

Overview

What is the Americans with Disabilities Act?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 and prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in places of public accommodation. While the ADA predates the web, courts have consistently ruled that websites are covered — and the DOJ's 2024 rule formally confirmed this, citing WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard. In 2025, over 4,800 federal ADA website lawsuits were filed. Non-compliant websites receive demand letters, face serial litigants, and risk settlements averaging $25,000–$75,000 per claim.

Technical standard

WCAG 2.2 Level AA

Scope

Any organization covered by the ADA

Enforcement

Complaints, audits, civil litigation

ADAGuard covers

WCAG 2.2 AA — 22 check categories

Scope

Who does the ADA apply to?

If your organization matches any category below, you are legally required to comply.

1

Title I — Employers (15+ employees)

Employment-related web portals, HR tools, job application systems

2

Title II — State and local governments

All public-facing government websites and digital services

3

Title III — Places of public accommodation

Businesses serving the public — retail, restaurants, hotels, entertainment, professional services

4

E-commerce stores

Online stores with US customers are covered under Title III

5

SaaS and software companies

Web applications available to the public or sold to covered entities

Technical checklist

What does ADA compliance require?

These are the specific technical obligations your website must meet. ADAGuard automatically checks most of these on every scan.

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Alternative text for all meaningful images (WCAG 1.1.1)

Color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text (WCAG 1.4.3)

All functionality operable by keyboard alone — no mouse required (WCAG 2.1)

Captions for all prerecorded video content (WCAG 1.2.2)

Readable and understandable text content (WCAG 3.1)

Consistent navigation and labeling across pages (WCAG 3.2)

Error identification and descriptive error messages in forms (WCAG 3.3)

Labels for all form inputs and instructions (WCAG 1.3.1)

No seizure-triggering content — no flashing faster than 3Hz (WCAG 2.3.1)

Text resizable up to 200% without loss of content or functionality (WCAG 1.4.4)

Sufficient time for users to read and complete tasks (WCAG 2.2)

Skip navigation links to bypass repeated blocks of content (WCAG 2.4.1)

Risk

The cost of
non-compliance

ADA enforcement is primarily through private litigation — any individual can file a lawsuit. The DOJ can also bring enforcement actions and impose penalties.

First violation: up to $75,000 in civil penalties (DOJ enforcement)

Subsequent violations: up to $150,000 per violation

Private lawsuits: settlements typically $15,000–$75,000 plus plaintiff attorney fees

Serial plaintiffs file hundreds of cases per year — a single non-compliant site can receive multiple demand letters

Demand letters from plaintiff law firms often demand $5,000–$20,000 to settle before filing

Your path to compliance

How to become ADA compliant

Run your free scan

Paste your URL and run a free WCAG 2.2 AA scan. ADAGuard checks 22 categories of ADA requirements in under 60 seconds.

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Review violations

Get a prioritized list of every violation with the failing element, the WCAG criterion, and before/after code examples to fix it.

Fix & document

Fix violations with your dev team, re-scan to verify, and download a dated audit report as evidence of your compliance effort.

Why ADAGuard

Everything you need for ADA compliance

One platform to scan, fix, document, and monitor your accessibility compliance.

WCAG 2.2 AA scanning

22 check categories. Real browser rendering. Not a simulated or partial test.

Element-level guidance

Every issue includes the failing HTML, the WCAG criterion, and a before/after code fix.

Compliance reports

Dated PDF audit reports to show regulators, clients, or your legal team.

Continuous monitoring

Scheduled rescans alert you when new issues appear after deploys or content updates.

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FAQ

Common questions about ADA compliance

Don't wait for a lawsuit.
Find out where you stand today.

Scan your site free. Get a full ADA violation report in 60 seconds — with WCAG criterion, failing element, and how to fix it.

Enter a full URL starting with https://, for example: https://yourwebsite.com

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