Website accessibility isn´t as simple as checking a series of boxes. In fact, what is considered accessible on a website is a patchwork of laws, guidance, litigation, and standards that become widely adopted over time, known as “Best Practices”. These standards evolve, sometimes quickly and dramatically. Anyone who promises you “legal compliance” doesn´t understand this topic or is trying to sell you something they cannot deliver.
It is best to think about website accessibility the way a restaurant manager thinks about health inspections. There are clear violations of the law, and then there are many that are specific to the restaurant’s location, what they serve, and the interpretation of whoever shows up to inspect them. Expanding on that analogy, the standards get stricter over time, and it can feel challenging to keep up.
Expanding further, it’s most important to understand that having a few elements unintentionally out of bounds according to the specific inspector assigned to you doesn´t necessarily mean you will fail an audit. Very few restaurants get a 100% grade, but most restaurants get an A in spite of a few issues, especially if those issues aren´t considered high risk and are resolved once discovered.
So, how do you navigate accessibility on your website? Most organizations in the United States are subject to accessibility requirements for their websites, with the potential for litigation over accessibility issues on their public websites. Some organizations also risk government audits, funding losses, or fines.
This can feel immensely intimidating, but the answer is very simple: make your best efforts to conform to accessibility standards and document everything. Like the new restaurant owner, learn the basics, practice good habits, recruit help and guidance, and address problems as they arise.
What not to do
Don’t ask an AI to scan your website. These tools aren´t made for this. They will provide a lot of incorrect information and false errors. They aren´t trained to specifically prioritize the best information, and their scanning abilities are limited to the HTML output of your site, which doesn´t factor in the VITAL tools of CSS and JavaScript in making websites work accessibly. Beyond that, almost all the current AI models are built to appease you as a higher priority than providing accurate information. Using AI for this purpose is the fastest way to cause a panic attack.
Don’t Google search terms like “ADA Compliance” or “Is my website accessible?” What you seek determines what you find, and these sorts of search terms will lead you to a series of results that offer “free scans” or promise “compliance”. These results are, in reality, sales funnels designed to extract as much money from you as possible by overestimating the issues on your site. And even if they aren’t sales funnels, auto-scanners are wholly inadequate to find even half the potential accessibility issues on a website. They cannot interact with a site like a human can. They cannot understand the nuance of why a configuration was chosen based on context. Manual testing and review are always necessary.
Where to start and steps to take
The easiest place to start is learning how to add content with accessibility in mind. There are only a few rules to memorize and practice. Generally, it takes very little extra time/effort to add accessible layers to the content you create. The best part is, you can apply these same rules to many other media, like documents, signage, etc. I’ve added an article for further reading at the bottom of this post.
Understand which specific laws may apply to your website. Most organizations in the United States are subject to the ADA, but this law was written before the modern web existed, so it’s basically useless to you in practical terms. The good news is that most modern state laws and federal guidance in the United States refer back to one source: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This is considered the gold standard for accessible website content. Depending on your organization type, size, and location, you might be afforded specific exceptions or stricter scrutiny, so it’s important to find out the nuances. For example, state and local government websites are required to follow the WCAG (version 2.1, level AA) as of April 2026, but the rule has large exceptions for non-accessible archival documents, and smaller towns get an extra year to comply. Other org types need to meet WCAG to receive grant money, but again, some grace is afforded since no org is perfectly accessible (especially regarding documents). Again, consider yourself a restaurant owner who needs to keep things clean. Find out if there are specific requirements/exemptions based on your organization’s size, location, and type.
If your website wasn’t built for accessibility (which is very common), or even if it was, you should seek out a reputable expert to review your site and identify issues. It’s vital to have a professional handle the technical aspects of your website unless you have advanced programming experience and a strong understanding of WCAG.
Website accessibility doesn’t end with your website’s code. Anything embedded on your site, or any documents stored and linked to it, also needs to be reviewed. PDFs and docs need to be accessible just like web content. Videos should not include flashing lights, and captions should be included. Any third-party code added to your site (subscribe popups, iFrames, etc) should be reviewed for accessibility. If they aren´t accessible, take them down until the vendor fixes the issues. If they are vital to your mission, it’s generally safer to link to them in a new window rather than embed them.
Once you are confident that your website meets the accessibility standards required for your type of organization, it’s important to establish a procedure for ongoing accessibility maintenance. This will include training anyone who may work on your website to add/edit content with accessibility in mind (see the article below), as well as scheduling regular reviews every 1-3 months with trusted web accessibility experts.
Keep in mind
No effort will completely eliminate risk. Any perceived accessibility issue, or even a claimant making false accusations, can lead to a lawsuit. Any agency that audits your site may have a different opinion or be more/less lenient on you. This is why documentation is vital. No organization is perfect when it comes to accessibility; most are far from it.
If you can prove you’ve made every reasonable effort to conform your website to accessibility best practices, you are less likely to experience negative consequences due to an audit, fine, or litigation. That is why honest professionals won´t guarantee “compliance”.
