Make your site conform to WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA, audit and fix it, skip overlay widgets, publish an accessibility statement, and keep testing. Here's how.
The best way to protect your website from an ADA lawsuit is to make it conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA, then keep it that way. In practice that means five things: audit the site, fix the issues in your code, don't rely on an overlay widget, publish an accessibility statement with a way to report problems, and re-test every time the site changes.
No tool or checklist can guarantee you'll never receive a demand letter. But plaintiff firms find most targets with automated scans, and a site that passes those scans, documents its work and responds quickly to complaints is a much harder and less attractive target.
This is general information, not legal advice. If you've already received a demand letter or complaint, talk to a lawyer.
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination by "places of public accommodation." Federal courts in many circuits, and the Department of Justice in its 2022 web accessibility guidance, treat business websites as covered, especially when they sell goods or services to the public.
A few facts explain why small businesses get caught:
That last point is the one you control. The same issues that an automated scan flags in seconds are the ones that most often appear in complaints.
The ADA itself doesn't name a technical standard for private businesses, but WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the benchmark courts, settlement agreements and the DOJ's 2024 rule for state and local governments all point to. WCAG 2.2, published by the W3C in October 2023, adds nine success criteria, including rules that keep keyboard focus from being hidden and set a minimum touch target size. If you're fixing things anyway, aim for 2.2 AA.
Start with a scanner built on axe-core or a similar engine. It will catch the most common machine-detectable failures. WebAIM's annual Million report finds the same six issues on the vast majority of the top one million home pages:
| Issue | WCAG criterion | Typical fix |
|---|---|---|
| Low contrast text | 1.4.3 | Darken text or lighten the background to at least 4.5:1 |
| Missing image alt text | 1.1.1 | Add meaningful alt, or alt="" for decorative images |
| Missing form labels | 1.3.1, 3.3.2 | Connect a <label> to every input |
| Empty links | 2.4.4 | Give icon links an accessible name |
| Empty buttons | 4.1.2 | Give icon buttons an accessible name |
| Missing page language | 3.1.1 | Add lang="en" to the <html> element |
You can run a free scan of your site to see which of these apply to you.
Automated tools only find part of the problem. Deque, the company behind axe-core, estimates automated tests catch about 57% of issues by volume. The rest needs a person:
Fix the source: templates, theme files, components. Most fixes are small:
<!-- Before: an icon button a screen reader announces as just "button" -->
<button class="cart-icon"><svg>...</svg></button>
<!-- After: it has a name -->
<button class="cart-icon" aria-label="Open cart (2 items)">
<svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">...</svg>
</button>
/* Never remove focus outlines without a replacement */
:focus-visible {
outline: 3px solid #1a56db;
outline-offset: 2px;
}
On Shopify, WordPress, Webflow or Squarespace, many issues come from the theme or third-party apps. See our Shopify and WordPress guide and Webflow and Squarespace guide for platform-specific fixes.
"One line of code" overlay products promise instant compliance. They don't change your underlying HTML, so the barriers a plaintiff's scan finds are usually still there. In January 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its tool could make any website WCAG compliant, and hundreds of accessibility practitioners have signed the Overlay Fact Sheet warning against these products. Sites running overlays are still sued every year. We cover the details in why overlay widgets attract ADA lawsuits.
An accessibility statement is a public page that says which standard you're working toward, what you know still needs fixing, and how people can contact you if they hit a barrier. It shows good faith, and it gives a frustrated customer a better option than a lawyer. Link it from your footer.
A useful statement includes:
The W3C has a free statement generator, or you can use a hosted accessibility statement that updates after each scan.
Most people who hit a barrier just want to buy the thing or book the appointment. A simple "report an accessibility problem" link, a real person reading the inbox, and a fix (or a workaround, like taking the order by phone) within a few days resolves many issues long before they become legal ones.
Accessibility breaks quietly. A new theme, a marketing pop-up, a chat widget or a review app can undo months of work. Re-scan after every release, or on a weekly schedule, and keep a record of what you found, what you fixed and when. If a demand letter ever arrives, that history helps your lawyer show the site was being actively maintained.
Don't ignore it, and don't pay without advice. Forward it to a lawyer who handles ADA Title III cases, preserve the current version of your site, and start fixing the specific issues named in the letter right away. Our step-by-step guide covers it in detail: what to do when you receive an ADA demand letter.
Accessibility Shield automates steps 2, 6, 7 and 8 for small sites. It runs axe-core in a real browser against your pages every week, emails you what changed, gives you a copy-paste fix for each issue (including prompts for AI coding tools like Cursor and Claude Code), and hosts an accessibility statement with a barrier reporting form. It doesn't replace the manual checks in step 3 or fixing your code in step 4, and it doesn't promise lawsuit immunity, because nothing honestly can. Start with a free scan, and see plans for weekly monitoring.
If your business serves the public, assume yes. The ADA has no small-business exemption for Title III, and most website lawsuits target small and mid-sized companies, not big brands. Some federal circuits require a connection to a physical location, but state laws such as California's Unruh Act apply regardless.
No. Overlays don't fix the underlying code, the FTC fined one major vendor in 2025 over compliance claims, and businesses using overlays continue to be sued. A real fix in your source code is what removes the barrier.
No. Anyone can file a lawsuit. Conforming to WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA removes the issues plaintiffs most often cite and puts you in a much stronger position if a claim is made, but it isn't a legal shield.
For a small site, fixing the common automated issues is often a few days of developer time. A professional manual audit typically runs from several hundred to several thousand dollars depending on size. Ongoing monitoring tools range from free to a few dollars a month for small sites to enterprise contracts.
WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the most widely referenced standard. WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the current W3C recommendation and includes everything in 2.1 plus nine new criteria, so meeting 2.2 AA covers both.
Your site is ADA compliant only if it meets the technical requirements of WCAG 2.1 AA and you can show a good‑faith effort to keep it that way.
Accessibility overlays don't fix your site's code, so the barriers plaintiffs scan for are still there. What the FTC, the courts and practitioners say, and what to do instead.
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