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What the Justice Department's guidance says
The Department of Justice published plain-language guidance on web accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act in March 2022.
- Who it covers: Title III of the ADA "prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by businesses open to the public" [1]. A local shop, restaurant, salon or contractor serving the public is in that group.
- How to comply: "Businesses and state and local governments have flexibility in how they comply" [1]. The guidance doesn't require a particular technical standard for private businesses.
- The yardstick: it says existing technical standards "provide helpful guidance", and names the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines among them [1].
The guidance came out when the department announced it on March 18, 2022 [2].
The five barriers the guidance names
The guidance lists specific problems that keep people from using a website, and each one has a straightforward fix.
- Poor color contrast, which makes text hard to read with limited vision or color blindness. Fix: dark text on a light background (or the reverse), never pale gray on white.
- No text alternatives ("alt text") on images, so people who are blind miss what the picture shows. Fix: a short description on every meaningful photo, such as "new tile shower in a bathroom remodel".
- No captions on videos, leaving out people with hearing disabilities. Fix: turn on captions and correct the automatic ones.
- Inaccessible online forms that can't be completed. Fix: a visible label on every field and clear error messages.
- Mouse-only navigation, which blocks people who can't use a mouse. Fix: every menu, button and form must work with the Tab and Enter keys.
Each point above is from the department's list of common barriers [1].
How to check your own site in fifteen minutes
You don't need special training to find the most common problems, only a phone, a keyboard and a free tool.
- Run the free accessibility checker on your home page and your contact page.
- Press Tab repeatedly from the top of the page: can you see where you are, and reach every link and button?
- Zoom the browser to 200%: does the text still fit, and is nothing cut off?
- Submit your contact form with a field left empty: does the error say which field and why?
- Run the free Website Check, which includes a contrast test.
About accessibility overlay widgets
Some companies sell a script that adds an accessibility button or toolbar to your site, and it's worth knowing what it can and can't do.
A widget can change font sizes or colors for a visitor who opens it, but it can't write meaningful descriptions for your photos, label your forms properly or fix a menu that doesn't work with a keyboard. Those fixes live in the site itself. Treat any product that claims to make a site compliant with one line of code with caution, and fix the underlying pages first.
How we handle accessibility on the sites we build
Accessibility is part of how every Sitelings site is checked before you see it, not an add-on.
Every site gets an accessibility review against WCAG 2.2 level AA before you see it: code checks for things like image descriptions and form labels, plus a review by the crew's quality checker. It's a review, not a certification. Checks catch many problems but not all of them, so if you or a customer find something that doesn't work, tell us and we fix it. Our guide on what pages a website needs and the questions to ask any designer cover the rest.
Questions about website accessibility
What small-business owners ask once they start looking into it.
Does the ADA apply to my small business website?
The Justice Department's guidance says businesses open to the public must make their websites accessible. If you're unsure how it applies to you, ask a lawyer who handles ADA matters.
Which WCAG level should I aim for?
Many organizations use WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 at level AA as their target, because it covers the common barriers without requiring specialist design.
Will making my site accessible slow it down?
No. Good contrast, labels and image descriptions add almost nothing to page weight, and they help every visitor on a small phone screen.
Keep reading
Related pages for the same kind of business, plus the guides and free tools that go with this one.
Sources
Every outside fact on this page comes from the sources below, read on the date shown. Prices and plans change; check the source before you decide.
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA" (read October 26, 2026). Title III covers businesses open to the public; flexibility in how to comply; WCAG as helpful guidance; barriers: contrast, alt text, captions, forms, mouse-only navigation.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Justice Department Issues Web Accessibility Guidance Under the Americans with Disabilities Act" (March 18, 2022; read October 26, 2026). Announcement of the guidance for businesses open to the public, March 18, 2022.