What happens over and over again is there’s a sense of urgency around digital accessibility after litigation has been initiated. And by then it’s too late, you’ve already suffered a significant loss. That doesn’t mean that you can’t go in the right direction after that. But you really want to prevent litigation altogether.
But that’s a really hard sell, telling people that- there are no plaques for people that prevent things, right, because we just don’t see the results. We don’t see the lawsuit that never happened. But there are so many reasons to get started on accessibility right now. And I’m going to cover some of the primary ones in this video. So let’s start. Why start now? Well, there’s no looming litigation.
So if you take care of, let’s say, your website’s accessibility, then you’re going to have a tremendous sense of relief knowing that- you don’t have to, that’s one less thing that you need to be concerned about. And litigation looms at all times, right for everybody; anybody can get sued at any time. There’s nothing that’s stopping that.
But when it comes to website accessibility, that litigation is rampant. And it has been very real for numerous entities across the US. We know about all of the complaints that have been filed in court because those are made public records; we don’t know about all of the thousands upon thousands of demand letters.
So this has been an area where plaintiffs’ law firms have been thinking about opening up the phonebook and just going down the line, so to speak. So it is a very real possibility that you could be the recipient of litigation if your website is inaccessible. So why not make your website accessible and significantly lower that risk of litigation?
Also, if you really want to commit to diversity and inclusion, which so many companies do, then do this, take care of accessibility, and make your experiences more accessible, that shows a demonstrable commitment that isn’t just stating that you’re committed to diversity and inclusion that’s showing you are.
Also, there is imminent regulation and/or new law that is, let’s just put it this way. Some type of law or end regulation is imminent when it comes to digital accessibility.
So this way, you are going to be very likely compliant ahead of time, of course, you’re going to have to review the new law when it comes out, just to make sure, but the new law or regulation is going to be centered around making sure your digital experiences are accessible, your website being the primary digital experience.
So if you address website accessibility ahead of time, you’re already going to be mostly compliant with that law, if not fully compliant. Laws can include all sorts of different requirements, but the main one is going to be making sure your digital experiences are accessible.
And by the way, this is going to happen within the next easily within the next three years, likely sooner. And when I say this, I mean law or regulation, you’ll improve the usability of your websites, your website’s accessibility improves usability, it’s- it only helps your website and it’s going to improve the experience for all of your users. So keep that in mind. And this is something where it’s an advantage, it’s a benefit.
This is not something where you’re taking action, and it’s just draining resources without giving any return benefit. There’s a huge benefit to accessibility, and it affects everybody that’s on your website.
And similarly, you will attract a larger audience. So more accessible means more sales. And there have been so many times where I make that statement, and someone asked me to prove it. Well, no, I can’t tell you- I don’t have any data that says if you- there are this many people that are experiencing accessibility issues on your website, and if you resolved XYZ issues that would result in what percentage more dollars you would make, I don’t have, no one has that data in front of them.
It’s very hard to gather. And if you think about it, you’ll know why. But the point is, it’s very logical. If you make your website more accessible, it’s easier for people to use. They’re going to, they’re going to buy more; they’re going to frequent your website more; they’re going to subscribe more, etc. You stand to benefit from accessibility.
So again, this is not something where it’s working against you; it’s working for you. You will save time, money, and energy by preventing potential litigation. So, so many entities from very, very small, the smallest of businesses to the largest of corporations, have faced litigation. And you don’t want that if you can prevent that, you’re going to save.
So I can tell you, once you get that demand letter, or once you have that complaint filed against you, it is an immediate redirection of resources to that litigation, and why not keep that for yourself, why not invest in accessibility, get the benefits from accessibility, and not have to deal with any of the hiring a defense attorney defend against the claim, entering into a settlement, following the stipulations of the settlement, why not eliminate that and get rid of that and avoid that altogether.
And that leads to my next- my next point is you will be able to work on your timeline, you will be- you will not be the under the terms of this- working under the terms of a settlement.
You will be taking care of accessibility as you want to, how you want to. Without any stipulations. Any of the stipulations that can come with a settlement, and by the way, some of these stipulations are quite restrictive, and they can even get into how- what you have implemented on your website and there are reporting requirements. Avoid that altogether and start with website accessibility today.
