Adaline Courses -- Free ADA Accessibility Education

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law enacted in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. While originally focused on physical spaces, the ADA has been increasingly applied to digital environments -- websites, mobile applications, and electronic documents.

Who Does the ADA Apply To?

The ADA is organized into five titles, but two are most relevant to digital accessibility:

Title II covers state and local government entities. Every government website, portal, and digital service must be accessible. In 2024, the Department of Justice published a final rule explicitly requiring WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance for state and local government web content and mobile apps.

Title III covers private businesses that operate "places of public accommodation." Courts have increasingly interpreted this to include websites and mobile apps, especially those connected to physical locations. While there is no single federal regulation specifying a technical standard for Title III, WCAG 2.1 AA is the widely accepted benchmark.

Organizations That Must Comply

Federal agencies (covered under Section 508)
State and local governments (ADA Title II)
Private businesses open to the public (ADA Title III)
Organizations receiving federal funding
Educational institutions
Healthcare providers

What Does "ADA Compliant" Mean for Digital Content?

ADA compliance for digital content generally means your website, app, or document conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This standard is organized around four principles, known as POUR:

Perceivable

Content must be presentable in ways users can perceive. This includes:

Alternative text for images
Captions and transcripts for audio/video
Content that can be presented in different ways without losing meaning
Sufficient color contrast between text and background

Operable

Users must be able to navigate and interact with all functionality:

All functionality available via keyboard
Users have enough time to read and use content
Content does not cause seizures or physical reactions
Users can navigate, find content, and determine where they are

Understandable

Content and interface operation must be understandable:

Text is readable and understandable
Content appears and operates in predictable ways
Users are helped to avoid and correct mistakes

Robust

Content must be robust enough to work with current and future technologies:

Content is compatible with assistive technologies
Proper use of semantic HTML and ARIA attributes
Valid, well-structured markup

Common ADA Violations

Based on accessibility audits across thousands of websites, the most frequent violations include:

Missing alternative text -- Images without alt attributes leave screen reader users unable to understand visual content.
Insufficient color contrast -- Text that doesn't meet the 4.5:1 contrast ratio (or 3:1 for large text) is difficult for users with low vision.
Missing form labels -- Form inputs without associated <label> elements or aria-label attributes are inaccessible to assistive technology users.
Empty links and buttons -- Interactive elements without accessible text provide no context about their purpose.
Missing document language -- Pages without a lang attribute on the <html> element prevent screen readers from using the correct pronunciation.
Inaccessible PDFs -- Untagged PDF documents cannot be read by assistive technologies.

The Legal Landscape

ADA digital accessibility lawsuits have increased dramatically. Here are the federal ADA Title III lawsuit numbers by year:

Year	Lawsuits Filed	Change
2021	11,452	Peak year
2022	8,694	-24%
2023	8,227	-5%
2024	8,800	+7%
2025	8,667	-2%

Even with a slight decline, 2025 lawsuit volume is still 3x higher than 2013 levels. The top states for filings are California (3,252), Florida (1,823), and New York (1,471).

Key legal developments:

DOJ Title II Rule (2024): The Department of Justice published a final rule requiring state and local government web content to conform to WCAG 2.1 AA. Compliance deadlines are phased: April 2026 for entities serving populations of 50,000 or more, and April 2027 for smaller entities.
DOJ Enforcement: The DOJ does not require a specific complaint before investigating. Pattern and practice matters -- systemic issues are high priority. Third-party content you host is your responsibility.
Title III Litigation: Federal courts have consistently ruled that websites of businesses open to the public must be accessible under Title III. Notable cases include Robles v. Domino's Pizza (2019), where the Ninth Circuit ruled that the ADA applies to websites and mobile apps.
State Laws: Several states have enacted their own digital accessibility requirements, including California, New York, and Illinois.

Getting Started with Compliance

Immediate Actions

Audit your current state: Use automated tools to identify obvious issues, then conduct manual testing with assistive technologies.
Install accessibility checkers: Enable built-in accessibility checkers in Office applications and browser extensions for web content.
Train staff who create documents: Content creators are the front line of accessibility.
Create accessible templates: Start every new document from an accessible template.
Establish review before publishing: No content goes live without an accessibility check.

For Each Document or Page

Run the built-in accessibility checker
Verify heading structure is logical
Check all images have alt text
Test that link text makes sense out of context
Verify table headers are defined
Check color contrast ratios
Test with a screen reader when possible

Organizational

Assign an accessibility coordinator -- Someone must own this
Document your accessibility policy -- Put it in writing
Create a remediation process for existing content
Publish an accessibility statement on your website
Provide a method for users to report issues -- and respond to them

Related Laws: Quick Reference

Law	Scope	Standard
Section 508	Federal agencies and ICT	WCAG 2.0 AA
Section 255	Telecommunications equipment	Accessibility standards
ADA Title II	State/local government	WCAG 2.1 AA (by 2026/2027)
ADA Title III	Private businesses/public accommodation	WCAG 2.1 AA (de facto)
21st Century IDEA	Executive agency websites	Modern, accessible design

The bottom line: WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the standard. Use built-in accessibility checkers. Train your people. Prioritize HTML over PDFs when possible. Document your efforts -- good faith remediation matters in enforcement.

Next Steps

Ready to dive deeper? Continue with these courses:

WCAG 2.1 AA Explained -- A practical breakdown of each success criterion
ADA Title II Deadlines -- Key compliance dates for government entities
Making PDFs Accessible -- How to create and remediate accessible documents