Free Member Benefit – Your Website Accessibility Statement
Consumers regularly interact with your self storage facility online. In the U.S., 26% of adults have a disability that may limit their ability to access you on the internet. To increase your ability to connect with consumers seeking self storage, and to ward off ADA website accessibility lawsuits, Storelocal developed an accessibility statement you can customize and post on your website.
Writing an Accessibility Statement
Storelocal commissioned a leading Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) attorney to craft an accessibility statement for use by Storelocal member businesses. Members who currently have a website through Tenant Inc. will have the statement automatically added to the footer of their websites. Storelocal is also making the accessibility statement available free of charge to all members who use other website providers.
The combination of having a statement on your site and doing your best to comply with the ADA will keep you fairly well protected from frivolous lawsuits by unscrupulous attorneys. If you are not on the Tenant web platform and need help, there are ADA auditing firms who specialize in providing feedback on what needs to be updated on your site to meet specific standards. Currently, the gold standard is to attain at least Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA compliance. If you choose to start on your own, there are WCAG compliance checklists and tools readily available online. The WCAG website is a good place to start: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
The Importance of an Accessibility Statement
Large and small businesses are prime targets for lawsuits. Unscrupulous attorneys look for companies’ websites that lack a statement, as this is a likely indication no accessibility measures are being taken. Because of this, it’s important to take proactive measures and have an accessibility statement on your site.
However, mitigating this type of potential lawsuit is not as easy as simply posting a block of text stating your website is ADA compliant and meets WCAG guidelines. Your business needs to actively be attempting to make strides towards ADA compliance. It is nearly impossible for any given company to have a fully compliant website at all times. The specific guidelines are constantly changing to reflect new standards and technologies. Compliance with the ADA means committing to improving your website to follow best practices so that all individuals will have access to your content. This may mean making it easier for users to change font sizes and contrast modes, and for the site to work well with modern screen readers. Luckily, for those Storelocal members on the Tenant web platform, that is already being taken care of for them.
Continuing to make your website more accessible and having an accessibility statement will make it much more difficult for money-chasing attorneys to come after your business.
ADA Compliance and WCAG Guidelines
The ADA is a civil rights law established in 1990. It exists to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in daily, public life. This includes at work, at school, on transportation like planes, busses, and trains, and even online. Most of us understand that public buildings must be accessible to people with disabilities, but business websites must be as well. This is where the WCAG guidelines come into play. WCAG is a set of guidelines agreed upon by many organizations and entities, designed to ensure that those with disabilities are able to access web content. Unlike the ADA, the WCAG itself doesn’t have any official legal power to require compliance. However, it is recommended that any business with an online presence provides accessibility to disabled users, as non-compliance could be viewed as a violation of the ADA.
An estimated 26% of adults in the U.S. have a physical, emotional, or mental disability. Most government institutions and businesses are happy to comply to make sure everyone has equal access to public spaces and all the information on the web.
Frivolous Lawsuits
While the ADA is a landmark law that protects millions of U.S. citizens and residents, some unscrupulous lawyers have sought to take advantage of it to make money. Many of us have had firsthand experience with attorneys who drive by businesses looking for noncompliant ramps, doors, etc., and we’ve all heard the horror stories of these lawyers suing operators for ADA violations at their facilities. Those suits have moved from a focus on physical locations to include our websites.
There are cases where such an attorney finds companies whose website is not within compliance of ADA rules. They then partner with someone with a disability that makes using computers and the Internet difficult, such as someone with a partial vision or hearing impairment, and file suit.
In 2017, a visually-impaired man won such a lawsuit against Winn-Dixie, after filing approximately 70 lawsuits against companies, asserting that their websites did not comply with the ADA. Other companies settled out of court. Often, companies will be hit while they’re in the process of getting an accessibility statement written. According to one web accessibility company, UsableNet, there were 2,285 ADA website lawsuits filed in 2018, an increase of 181 percent from the previous year and are expected to continue to increase through 2020.
To protect your self storage business, post an accessibility statement like the one Storelocal prepared for you, and take steps toward WCAG compliance.
Download the Accessibility Statement Here
