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We’re all accustomed to playing a game by a set of rules designed to establish an order of fairness. Each player follows a common set of regulations to ensure inclusion of all who share the field of participation. Being a champion in any community endeavor mandates that the actions taken to achieve success do not come at the exclusion of others from the community. The American Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a sweeping set of rules developed and implemented to grant access and inclusion to all members of society, eliminating artificial barriers to anyone suffering from mental or physical maladies who wish to participate in the most fundamental aspects of life.
Companies have come to realize the impact that compliance with the ADA and a plethora of other relative satellite guidelines have on their operations and how important adherence can be to their success. Making all physical and digital resources available to everyone with disabilities, while not specific to the original mandates of the ADA, is covered by a peripheral set of standards. Known as 508 compliance, the rules establish a few specific core principles of website design and function to insure unobstructed access to all governmental services by those with disabilities. While the regulation applies mainly to governmental websites, the standards are being implemented across the spectrum of commerce across the internet.
508 Compliance is based on a few foundational principles focused on providing “overall ease of use for webpages and mobile applications by removing barriers and enabling more people to successfully complete tasks.” Included are site functionality such as mouse functions, text alternatives, video and image transcripts. Compliance requires a website be highly readable and any use of color must be defined for the screen reader. Colors must be “web safe” and no CSS commands should change the browser’s native display such that a screen reader cannot translate it. Strict adherence to the standards can be complex and relatively expensive to develop and maintain. leaving many companies to ponder the costs and question the necessity to comply.
For websites routinely attracting users with disabilities or those sites mandated by law to comply, the answer to 508 compliance is simple. However, mainstream sites are also beginning to embrace adherence to the standards as well. With an estimated 48.9 million Americans living with disabilities, participation can make for enlightened business sense. An average 13.2 million people in the United States have at least one disability that Section 508 covers. Avoiding potential unrecognized legal costs and public erosion to brand identity is also motivating many organizations to seek compliance with their web presence.
Junction Creative Solutions (Junction) has experience implementing ADA compliance initiatives for our clients, as well as providing for the proper annual registration. Junction offers a website technology that complies with the WCAG2.1 and keeps your website accessible at all times. Our team is able to analyze and decipher all of your website elements and activate an accessibility via the interface. Website are monitored daily so that your website maintains its certification.
Contact our sales team to learn more about our ADA and 508 Compliance technology for existing websites and new websites. Call 678.686.1125!