07/11/2017

Website Accessibility: Legal Pressure's on the Rise

Numerous courts are examining how ADA rules impact website visitors and operators

If you’re serious about building an inclusive community in your association, you’re probably already paying attention to website accessibility. And if not, you should be: Numerous court cases have looked at what the law requires of site owners, and, last month, a vision-impaired plaintiff won the first trial on the issue. If you’re behind the curve, there are a few steps you should take now.

Why are we talking about accessibility on websites? Because of Winn-Dixie. (It’s not a new issue, admittedly, but it’s got new urgency these days.)

Last month, a federal judge in Florida issued a verdict in favor of a Winn-Dixie customer who had sued the grocery chain, claiming it violated the Americans With Disabilities Act because its websites were not accessible to blind and vision-impaired users. Although there have been pretrial court rulings and settlements in previous cases, this is believed to be the first trial verdict in a website ADA lawsuit.

Please click here to read the complete article on Associations Now.