Risks & Benefits of California Website Accessibility Compliance & Non-Compliance
When your website is not compliant with California’s Website Accessibility compliance laws, it can soon become a platform of missed opportunities. This can not only affect your business volume but also create potential legal problems. If your business or organization operates in California in any way, it is important to ensure it is accessible to users with all forms of abilities. The CDC reports that over 61 million Americans have some form of disability. If your website is not compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California website accessibility laws, you are looking forward to missing out on tens of millions of dollars worth of lost income. So, what are the risks of non-compliance and the benefits of compliance? We, at Mystic Web Designn, would like to guide you on this subject.
Risks
Recently, there has been a surge in the number of lawsuits related to website accessibility in the state of California. These lawsuits have especially been related to the violations of the Unruh Act. If you are a business, a web accessibility lawsuit doesn’t just mean risking potential thousands of dollars in damages for each violation but also losing your reputation and time.
There are extreme penalties for operating a website that is inaccessible. The fines can often go up into the tens of thousands for just the first violation. Further violations can also cost thousands and are reviewed annually and can increase due to inflation. If you violate these laws as a government-funded entity, your grants can come under the threat of being revoked.
Potential Lawsuits
A person with a disability can easily file a complaint against a website that violates the California Website Accessibility law or the ADA. The concerned department will investigate before filing a lawsuit if it finds the claims of violation to be valid. A person with a disability can also file a lawsuit directly in a court of law against a business or a government-backed entity.
Benefits
If your business achieves compliance with the Unruh Civil Rights Act, you will not only reduce your legal risks, but your website will also benefit in a number of ways. In complying with these laws, you are making technology work for your website by reaching more potential customers or clients.
Improved User Experience: Compliance helps improve user experience (UX) for all your visitors, with all forms of abilities, on all types of devices. This includes users with disabilities such as impaired vision, hearing loss, and tremors or arthritis. The abilities can also range from completely blind to legally blind to needing glasses, and color blindness.
Improved SEO: Improve user experience itself translates into improved search engine optimization. When more people are able to access your website, Google and other search engines will see your website as a valuable resource for your target audience.
Making your website accessible is also the morally right thing to do. It is important to realize that the web, and your website, which is a part of it, has become an important resource for people to gain valuable information.
Thus, there are many benefits of complying with the California website accessibility laws. If you want to learn more about improving your website or creating a new one that meets all the regulations, feel free to contact Mystic Web Designn at 1-760-216-4589 or 1-212-763-6585. You may also reach us at info@mysticwebdesignn.com.
About the Author:
Rosario Berry is a professional freelance writer, like to introduce Website Design in Oceanside, CA. When designing an ADA-Compliant Website, it is recommended to follow the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.