ADA website accessibility checklist: what to check and fix first
Short answer
US courts and the Department of Justice point to WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) as the technical benchmark for accessible websites; the DOJ's 2024 rule for state and local governments adopts WCAG 2.1 AA. For a small business site, start with the problems that block people most often: images without text alternatives, form fields without labels, buttons and links without names, blocked zoom, missing page language, poor colour contrast and anything that cannot be used with a keyboard. This is general information, not legal advice.
- Images: every meaningful image has alt text (WCAG 1.1.1).
- Forms: every field has a visible label (1.3.1, 3.3.2, 4.1.2).
- Buttons and links: every one has a name a screen reader can read (2.4.4, 4.1.2).
- Zoom: the viewport does not block zooming (1.4.4).
- Language and title: <html lang> and a page <title> are set (3.1.1, 2.4.2).
- Contrast: text has at least 4.5:1 contrast (1.4.3), checked by hand or a contrast tool.
- Keyboard: everything works with Tab, Enter and Space, and focus is visible (2.1.1, 2.4.7).
- Captions: videos with speech have captions (1.2.2).
Good to know
Website accessibility lawsuits in US federal courts rose in 2025 (3,117 federal website filings per Seyfarth's ADA Title III tracking); most targeted e-commerce sites.
Accessibility overlay widgets do not fix the underlying code; in 2025 the FTC finalised a $1 million order against accessiBe over its compliance claims.
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Is WCAG the law?
WCAG is a technical standard. Laws and rules such as the ADA, the DOJ's Title II rule and the European Accessibility Act point to it or to standards built on it. Ask a lawyer about your own obligations.
Does an overlay widget make my site compliant?
Overlays add a script on top of the page; they do not fix the code underneath. Fixing the page itself is the reliable route.
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