ADA Real Estate Website Accessibility Law

In the United States, the American With Disabilities Act law in place to ensure fair and equal access to all citizens when it comes to things like banking, government services, education, and yes online real estate information.

ADA Real Estate Website Accessibility Is Law

If your real estate website does not attempt to be ADA Accessibility compliant, you may also be committing a fair housing violation which is a very serious offense and can harm your reputation if found guilty.

All organizations need to justify their investments of money or effort regardless of whether they are commercial, nonprofit or governmental. When it comes to accessibility, it only makes business sense to highlight the benefits it will give an organization.

Birds of a feather flock together, so the adage goes. The saying holds true for Fortune 100 companies, as they tend to practice disability inclusion as a part of their overall diversity strategy. Now, it’s not entirely clear whether these companies recorded successes as a direct result of disability inclusion, but we know that winners tend to have similar habits.

Therefore, when businesses plan for accessibility, they are better positioned to succeed in our increasingly connected commerce and civically engaged world. To enable you to create a quality policy framework for web accessibility, here are some recommendations to help optimize your user experience while also helping you achieve ADA compliance.

Web Accessibility And The Law

There has been a significant increase in website accessibility lawsuits in recent years where plaintiffs claim that they cannot access websites because they are incompatible with assistive technologies. In such cases, plaintiffs usually cite ADA Title III violations.

Websites are covered by the ADA. The U.S. Department of Justice has interpreted Title III of the ADA to include websites as places of public accommodation, while Title I requires employers with 15 or more employees to comply. A website that is fully accessible is not at risk of receiving a demand letter claiming ADA violations.

What should you do to avoid legal risk? There are two main steps:

• Assess your current level of compliance and perform an accessibility audit of your website usage.

• Take immediate action in remediation of your ADA compliance issues by using a high-level web accessibility solution.

Web Accessibility Improves Overall User Experience

The nature of accessible web design allows content to render across a wide range of devices, assistive technologies and operating systems. This in turn ensures that every web user benefits from accessibility considerations. People without accessibility needs are also able to enjoy the usability benefits of access features like automatic door openers, and in the digital space, accessibility features such as ARIA labeling, semantic HTML and alt text make it easier for everyone to navigate websites via keyboards.

Some innovations, such as text-to-speech and voice-activated devices, were originally designed to assist people with disabilities, but all have found a broader application.

The takeaway here is to invest in accessible web design not only because it helps people with accessibility needs, but it also drives innovation in other sectors.

Corporate Social And Economic Considerations

ADA compliance isn’t just about ticking a regulatory compliance box. It’s about enabling people with real needs to have a more wholesome web experience. It’s a social responsibility that companies should take seriously. Companies like Microsoft were able to demonstrate a commitment to accessibility by engaging with stakeholders of all abilities. This led to the improvement of its products and services. 

The global estimate of the disability market is nearly $7 trillion. In the U.S., the annual discretionary spending of people with disabilities is over $200 billion. In the U.K., the Purple Pound market (families of people with disabilities) spends at least 249 billion pounds every year. It would be terrible not to design websites that allow you to tap into such a market considering all of this.

Furthermore, web accessibility is beneficial to older people and to people who use devices with small screens and a variety of input methods.

Ultimately, ADA compliance benefits everyone — ensuring customer loyalty and improved customer experience. To the company in question, it improves its reputation as ADA compliance makes a statement for inclusivity and diversity.

Conclusion

In the world, there are more than 1 billion people with disabilities eager to work with you as clients, employees, partners and educators. By committing to accessibility over time and using resources like the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to develop policy and implement strategies to realize that commitment, you will reach this market and are likely to thrive in unexpected and self-sufficient ways.