In its March 2022 web guidance, the U.S. Department of Justice says inaccessible web content can deny people equal access and lists practical considerations such as contrast, headings, keyboard use, and meaningful error cues. This page is not legal advice.

• Buttons or menus that need a mouse.
• Forms with missing labels or unclear errors.
• Text that cannot zoom or lacks contrast.
• A clean automated score treated as proof of full accessibility.

• Test the main customer path with a keyboard and zoom.
• Run automated checks and review the findings manually.
• Fix blockers in forms, navigation, media, and purchase or booking flows first.
• Create a way to report an accessibility problem and respond.

The ADA covers businesses open to the public. Ada.gov lists examples such as retail stores, food and drink establishments, hotels, and medical offices. The Justice Department says the ADA’s requirements apply to what those businesses offer on the web, too.

Ada.gov’s web guidance, dated March 2022, says the Department has no regulation setting out detailed web standards. It says businesses can choose how they make online services accessible, but still must make them accessible. It points to WCAG as helpful guidance.

If someone says a 2024 federal rule sets your website standard, ask which rule. The April 2024 web requirements ada.gov mentions are for state and local governments.

New York City adds its own layer. When we checked in October 2026, the city’s business portal said businesses are public accommodations under the NYC Human Rights Law and must give patrons with disabilities reasonable accommodations unless that causes an undue hardship. It calls that law generally more expansive than state and federal law. That page does not set a website standard.

None of this is legal advice. If a demand letter or lawsuit arrives, call a lawyer before you reply or pay anyone.

WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is W3C’s standard for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Its success criteria come in three levels: A, AA, and AAA. W3C encourages using the latest version. It says content that meets WCAG 2.2 also meets 2.1 and 2.0.

So put WCAG 2.2 Level AA in the written scope. Start with the pages customers use most: home, menu or services, booking, checkout, and contact. Then cover the rest of the site. Ask how it will be tested, by hand as well as with tools.

W3C publishes Easy Checks, a first review anyone can run in a browser. The steps below follow its 2023 version; W3C is drafting an update. It is quick, not final. W3C says a page can seem to pass and still have significant barriers.

• Click the address bar, put the mouse aside, and press Tab to move through the page. Shift-Tab goes back. On a Mac, you may need to turn on keyboard navigation first.
• Watch for a visible outline on whatever is selected. If you lose track of it, so will a keyboard user.
• Make sure you can Tab out of anything you Tab into, like a video player. W3C calls getting stuck a “keyboard trap.”
• Go through a booking or checkout without the mouse, up to the last confirm or pay button. If you do finish one, cancel or refund it after. W3C flags features that only work on mouse hover as a common problem.
• Make the text 200% bigger. W3C says badly built pages show overlapping sections or text that disappears.

Be skeptical of a widget that promises to make your site compliant on its own. In April 2025, the FTC approved a final order against accessiBe. It bars the company from claiming its automated products can make any website WCAG-compliant without evidence to support that.

We build and remediate accessible interfaces, but we are not a law firm and cannot promise immunity from a claim. Ask qualified counsel about legal risk.

Get a plain-English second opinion

Product features and rules can change. Use the linked source as the current word.

• U.S. Department of Justice web accessibility guidance — Informal ADA guidance for businesses open to the public, dated March 18, 2022; ada.gov says its guidance documents are not legally binding.
• W3C WAI: WCAG 2 Overview — What WCAG is, its A/AA/AAA levels, and which version to use. Checked October 19, 2026.
• W3C WAI: Easy Checks – A First Review of Web Accessibility — Step-by-step browser checks for keyboard access, focus, and text resizing. Checked October 19, 2026.
• FTC: FTC Approves Final Order Requiring accessiBe to Pay $1 Million (April 22, 2025) — Final order on claims that an automated plug-in could make any website WCAG-compliant. Checked October 19, 2026.
• NYC MyCity Business: NYC Human Rights Law — NYC treats businesses as public accommodations under a law broader than state and federal law. Checked October 19, 2026.