Government agencies and many healthcare providers are required by law to have accessible websites and apps. For everyone else, it's good business: when people can't use your site, they leave. Here's what applies to you, and how to get there.
All three point to the same standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The government and healthcare deadlines were pushed back a year in 2026, but the requirements themselves didn't change.
- Populations of 50,000 or more
- April 26, 2027
- Smaller governments and special districts
- April 26, 2028
Cities, counties, public colleges, courts, libraries, and transit. Covers websites, mobile apps, and the documents posted on them, like PDFs and forms.
- 15 or more employees
- May 11, 2027
- Fewer than 15 employees
- May 10, 2028
Hospitals, health centers, clinics, and other providers that receive federal funding. Covers websites, patient portals, mobile apps, and documents.
- No formal rule or date
- Enforced through lawsuits
Shops, restaurants, e-commerce, and service businesses of any size. Courts disagree on exactly when the ADA covers a website, but the Justice Department expects these sites to be accessible, and in 2025 alone, businesses faced over 3,000 website accessibility lawsuits in federal court.
Rules last checked October 2026.
Required or not, there's a person on the other side of every screen.
That's how many US adults have a disability, according to the CDC. If they can't get through your site or app, they take their business somewhere that works.
That much disposable income belongs to working-age Americans with disabilities, according to a 2026 American Institutes for Research study.
Captions in a noisy room, readable text on a phone in the sun, forms that work with a keyboard. Accessible sites and apps are easier for all of us.
Clear headings, real text, and described images help search engines understand your site, the same way they help screen readers.
You don't have to fix everything at once. You need to know where you stand, and a clear plan from there.
Curious what an audit looks like? See a sample audit report (PDF), written for a fictional county parks department.
Hands-on testing
We test your site or app the way people with disabilities use it: keyboard only, zoomed in, and with screen readers, backed by automated scans.
What you walk away with
- Every issue mapped to WCAG 2.1 AA
- Ranked by severity, so you fix what matters first
- Clear guidance on how to fix each one
For many teams, the report is all you need.
Hands on, or alongside your team
We can handle the fixes for you, or work alongside your developers or vendor as they make them. Either way, nothing's left to guesswork.
Confirm and document
We retest what was fixed and confirm it holds, so you can show where you stand if anyone asks.
For a big launch or a key flow like registration or checkout, we can add sessions with people who are blind or have low vision. They use your site or app the way they do every day and show us where they get stuck. We trace each snag to its cause and show you how to fix it.
Don't see yours?
Does this apply to my small business?
It may. Title III of the ADA covers businesses open to the public, of any size, and many courts apply it to websites, though not all. There's no formal rule or deadline, so it's easy to miss until a complaint or demand letter arrives. Either way, an accessible site or app is the right thing for your customers.
What is WCAG 2.1 AA?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. Level AA is the one US rules and courts point to. It covers things like text contrast, keyboard access, captions, form labels, and how screen readers move through a page. Read the W3C overview.
Do PDFs and other documents count?
Yes. For government and healthcare, documents you post, like PDFs, forms, and agendas, are covered, with some exceptions for older archived files. We include them when we scope the audit.
A vendor built our site or app. Who is responsible?
You are. The rules apply to the organization offering the site or app, even when someone else built or hosts it. We can audit what was delivered and give your vendor a clear list of what to fix.
Will an accessibility widget make us compliant?
No. Plug-ins that promise compliance with one line of code don't fix the underlying problems, and sites using them still get sued. Accessibility has to be built into the site itself.
Will this make us legally compliant?
We test against the standard that applies to you and help you meet it, criterion by criterion. Whether that fully covers your legal obligations is a question for your attorney, so if that's a concern, bring them in. This page explains the rules in plain language, as of October 2026.
It starts with an audit, and a clear list of what to fix first.