Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been widely interpreted by courts to apply to the websites of private businesses. Additionally, a new rule under Title II sets explicit web and mobile accessibility requirements for state and local governments. To achieve ADA compliance, organizations should bring their websites into conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA at minimum.
The ADA doesn’t just apply to the physical world. It also has implications for digital experiences—including websites, mobile apps, and electronic documents. Organizations that fall short face real legal and financial exposure: 3,117 web accessibility lawsuits were filed under the ADA in federal courts in 2025, a 27% increase from the year before, and litigation shows no signs of slowing.
So, what exactly does ADA compliance mean for websites—and how can you mitigate your organization’s risk? We’ll answer these and more questions in this blog.
Key insights
- According to Seyfarth Shaw, 3,117 federal web accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2025, a 27% increase from 2024. Web accessibility cases accounted for 36% of all federal ADA Title III claims.
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the de facto compliance benchmark used by courts in ADA Title III cases, and the technical standard for compliance with a 2024 Title II rule on web and mobile accessibility.
- New U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) deadlines give large public entities until April 26, 2027 to meet web and mobile accessibility requirements under the Title II rule, and small entities until April 26, 2028.
- Organizations may be held accountable under the ADA for inaccessible mobile apps, PDFs, social media posts, and third-party tools—not just websites.
What are ADA requirements for websites?
Because the ADA was signed into law in 1990, before the internet became mainstream, the original law does not explicitly mention websites. However, the DOJ has repeatedly clarified its position that Title III of the ADA, which applies to places of public accommodation, extends to the websites of private businesses. Courts have widely upheld this interpretation, ruling that an inaccessible website violates the ADA.
Additionally, in 2024, the DOJ published a final rule under Title II of the ADA that sets specific web and mobile accessibility requirements for state and local governments.
For both private and public entities, digital accessibility is a legal requirement. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities both online and off.
WCAG: The benchmark for ADA compliance
Broadly speaking, ADA compliance for websites means ensuring that people with disabilities can access the same information and functionality as everyone else. But what does that mean in practice?
Thankfully, there’s a technical benchmark that organizations can adhere to: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), this standard is built on four principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR)—that web content, including user interface components, should align with in order to be accessible to people with disabilities.
There are several versions of WCAG, and three levels of conformance: A, AA, and AAA, where A is the most basic and AAA is the most advanced.
To comply with the DOJ’s ADA Title II rule, state and local governments must conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This is also the version and conformance level that is most frequently referenced by courts as a compliance benchmark in ADA Title III cases involving private businesses. Meeting WCAG 2.1 AA involves best practices such as:
- Achieving a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text, and 3:1 for large text, meaningful graphics, and interactive elements.
- Providing descriptive alt text for images.
- Ensuring all functionality is operable via keyboard navigation.
- Providing clear error messages on form fields.
- Providing closed captions for video content.
WCAG 2.2, published in October 2023, is backward-compatible with 2.1. While WCAG 2.1 Level AA is sufficient for compliance with most U.S. laws, conforming with WCAG 2.2 will help organizations stay ahead of evolving requirements and better meet the needs of more users.
Who must comply—and when
Different types of organizations are covered by different parts of the ADA. While ADA Title II applies to state and local governments, private businesses with inaccessible websites may be vulnerable to lawsuits under Title III. Let’s explore who exactly is impacted by each title, and relevant compliance deadlines.
ADA Title II
ADA Title II covers all U.S. state and local government organizations, including cities, states, courts, public schools, and public transportation systems. Entities covered by ADA Title II are subject to a 2024 rule from the DOJ that requires WCAG 2.1 AA conformance for web and mobile content. The rule also established specific deadlines for compliance, which have now been extended by one year. The table below reflects the current deadlines.
| Entity Type | Population | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Large public entities (states, counties, cities) | 50,000+ residents | April 26, 2027 |
| Small public entities | Under 50,000 | April 26, 2028 |
| Special district governments | All sizes | April 26, 2028 |
For public universities and colleges, the deadline is dependent on the population size of the state or local government that the school is an instrument of—not the size of the student population. So, a state university must comply by April 26, 2027 if the state’s population is greater than or equal to 50,000.
ADA Title III
ADA Title III applies to places of public accommodation—retailers, restaurants, healthcare providers, and any organization offering goods or services to the public. While there are no specific compliance deadlines for Title III organizations, private businesses that neglect to prioritize web accessibility face continuous litigation risk.
The high volume of Title III lawsuits can be partly attributed to the absence of a clear consensus among courts on how exactly the law applies to the digital world. A divide exists across federal court jurisdictions over a fundamental question: whether a website must have a nexus to a physical location to trigger Title III liability, or whether a website alone constitutes a public accommodation.
Courts in the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits have generally required a physical nexus, while others have found that websites can be independent places of public accommodation. Despite the lack of uniformity in enforcement, Title III organizations should treat ADA compliance as an ongoing obligation rather than a threshold to cross after they’ve already been targeted by a lawsuit.
The legal and business case for ADA compliance
If the ADA applies to your organization, you may be wondering what’s at stake when it comes to compliance. The answer cuts both ways. On one side, failing to meet ADA compliance standards carries escalating legal and financial risk. On the other hand, an ADA compliant website is also a business asset, expanding your reach to a market that many organizations are still leaving underserved.
Legal consequences of noncompliance
ADA compliance obligations carry real financial stakes, including settlement costs as well as legal fees and the cost of remediation itself. Additionally, several states have laws with parallel requirements to the ADA, which allow for monetary penalties. For example, California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act imposes fines of up to $4,000 for digital accessibility violations.
The business case for accessible design
ADA compliance is not only a legal obligation—an ADA compliant website opens your organization to a broader audience. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide—16% of the global population—experience significant disability. If your website isn’t accessible, potential customers with disabilities won’t hesitate to take their business elsewhere.
It’s also worth considering that accessible design benefits all users, not just those with disabilities. Accessibility best practices like clear user interface structure, logical keyboard navigation, and sufficient contrast also improve digital experiences for people without disabilities—a phenomenon known as the “curb cut effect.”
ADA compliance and your users: Understanding assistive technologies
At their core, ADA compliance requirements for websites exist to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to digital information, products, and services. Meeting these requirements means creating digital content that works reliably with the assistive technologies that many people with disabilities use to engage with the web.
Let’s explore a few examples of assistive technology, and some of the accessibility best practices that benefit users of these technologies.
- Screen readers convert on-screen text and interface elements into synthesized speech or braille for people with visual disabilities. Examples of screen readers include NVDA and JAWS for web, VoiceOver for iOS, and TalkBack for Android. Screen reader users depend on alt text for images, proper heading structure, labeled input fields, and keyboard-navigable controls, among other considerations. When headings are improperly nested or decorative images lack null alt text, screen readers skip past content.
- Voice recognition software, like Dragon Professional, allows users with motor or speech disabilities to navigate digital content and input text by voice, and depends on the same keyboard accessibility standards in WCAG.
- Keyboard navigation allows users to engage with digital experiences using the keyboard only, without a mouse or pointer device. Keyboard users depend on visible focus indicators and the absence of keyboard traps to move through digital content independently.
How to get started with ADA website compliance
Digital accessibility is an ongoing practice, not a one-time project. The following steps will help your organization build a sustainable program and work toward compliance with ADA requirements:
- Hire accessibility experts to conduct manual testing, including user flow testing with people with disabilities, at regular intervals. Manual testing surfaces issues that automated scans cannot detect.
- Use automated tools to monitor your site continuously, treating scans as a starting point rather than a substitute for expert review.
- Negotiate accessibility requirements into vendor contracts, holding third-party providers accountable for WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance across software and any digital content they deliver, including PDFs and other electronic documents. Remember that ADA compliance requirements extend to every tool and platform your organization uses to serve the public.
- Train all contributors to your digital properties on web accessibility standards. An accessibility problem identified before publication is far cheaper to fix than one that triggers a complaint or lawsuit.
- Publish an accessibility statement and provide a feedback channel for users to report accessibility problems they encounter.
Embed digital accessibility into your website development process
ADA compliance for websites is not a destination—it is an ongoing commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities can access what your organization offers on equal terms. The legal landscape is tightening, the deadlines are real, and the barriers that trigger lawsuits are fixable.
Organizations that build accessibility into their workflows from the start are better positioned to avoid remediation costs, reduce litigation exposure, and serve a broader audience. If you are looking for a practical starting point, explore the Accessibility Risk Reduction Playbook to learn how to identify gaps in your accessibility program and prioritize what to address first.
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