Many lawyers are not aware of website accessibility. Oftentimes a lawyer’s exposure to the issue of website accessibility is communications from a client receiving a letter stating that their website is not accessible or dealing with a potential lawsuit.
Unfortunately, due to the frequency of dealing with these letters and the often quick settlements, these letters have attracted a reputation as being filed by lawyers interested in nuisance settlements. However, that is frequently not the case, and a particular lawsuit may be the only tool to ensure the accessibility of a website.
The State Bar of Wisconsin is aware of this topic and last year
hosted a CLE by a very well-respected accessibility law attorney, William Goren. Mr. Goren’s writings are a great resource, and I frequently review his blog for insights and analysis. This CLE is available as an OnDemand seminar.
Regulations
To start with, until recently, there were no specific state or federal regulations as to website accessibility. The Department of Justice issued a interim final rule on April 20, 2026, that required state and local governments to make their websites and apps accessible by April 2027 or April 2028.
Hamza Jaka, UC Berkeley 2018, is a contract associate with
Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona, in Lake Geneva, where he focuses on civil rights, complex litigation, and business compliance brand management.
As to private businesses, federal courts have ruled that websites are places of public accommodation and are required to be accessible under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).[1]
Wisconsin’s public accommodation’s law does not have any case law relating to website accessibility that I could find for this blog, but it is safe to assume that Wisconsin state law may give rise to such claims.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Beyond that though, website accessibility is deeply important because people with disabilities are often frozen out of services and may need legal assistance. Fortunately, website accessibility has a series of guidelines that are straightforward and many web developers can implement them.
The gold standard of website accessibility is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG is hosted by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and is a series of guidelines relating to making web content accessible.
There are several important resources on
the WAI’s page. The WCAG’s standards are currently in their second revision with 2.2 having been released in 2024.
WCAG 3.0 is currently in development.
Challenges
Web accessibility may seem like a one-size-fits-all matter, but there are many ways that people’s needs may differ. Starting with these guidelines is a great place to begin when developing web content or working with someone to develop content.
One of the challenges that businesses face is that website accessibility is often sold as a simple solution. It is, although many website owners will assume that a website is accessible because a widget or an overlay system is in place, but that may not be the case.
The state of Illinois has
an information page on overlays. An overlay system is a tool that is added over top of an existing website that may offer the ability to adjust fonts, page colors, text sizes to be more accessible. However, they cannot always detect accessibility issues and may cause greater problems.
Best Practices
The best practice for website accessibility is for it to be built accessible from the ground up. Here are some examples of what that might look like:
Each image or piece of content uploaded on a website must be tested and checked. That can include making sure embedded videos have captions or that images have alternative text or image descriptions, so that people who are not able to see an image can use a screen reader to read content off a webpage.
Writing in plain language is also important.
These are just some of the aspects of accessibility; the WCAG guidelines have many more.
There Are Resources to Help
As you read this post, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed. Fortunately, there are many experts you can partner with to perform an accessibility audit or help you build an accessible website.
There are a number of companies in Wisconsin, and many web developers have significant experience with website accessibility.
Keep in mind that making a website accessible is worth it because it can open your practice to so many more people. It is also just the right thing to do.
This article was originally published on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s
Elder Law and Special Needs Blog. Visit the State Bar
sections or the
Elder Law and Special Needs Section webpages to learn more about the benefits of section membership.
Endnote
[1]
Walsh v. Dania Inc., 716 F. Supp. 3d 655, 659 (N.D. Ill. 2024).
↩
