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New videos online - offering additional help and support at each stage of AAAtraq Continuous Protection compliance journey.

What is compliance?
How content management leads to most websites failing to meet accessibility standards.

Web accessibility goes beyond technical guidelines; it is an emotionally charged subject with high stakes.

You may have heard of the updates the 'WCAG' (technical web content guidelines) and be wondering how we are going to incorporate into AAAtraq. Will litigation be even most complex, confusing - is a technical standard fit for litigation purposes?

Extract of the article on Phocuswire 'Travel websites failing basic accessibility tests' following interview with Lawrence Shaw

AAAtraq’s July audit shows that most of the 97% of H Ed who failed The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance tests were let down on their home page, leaving them sitting ducks and exposed to unnecessary legal action.

When it comes to online ADA risk, The Times They Are A-Changin' for CFOs, even more so for website software vendors, consultants and service providers

Justice Department Advances Proposed Rule to Strengthen Web and Mobile App Access for People with Disabilities and clarify how public entities can meet their existing ADA obligations as activities shift online.

LA College pays out $240,000 - what were the internal costs, and ongoing distraction? With 96% of content presently failing and new laws on the horizon it's no wonder Education is a litigation top 3.

Until now accountability may have been lacking, we do not have a position to protect - we want to ensure those paying for compliance, achieve it.

CFO's - online Risk is leaving you unnecessarily financially exposed, short term it's repeated spending to fail - long term undermine brand value.

Mid 2023, and it's same old same old - ever more ADA cases..... noticeable increase in claims against 'widget' providers (despite their compliance promise).

Universities and other higher education institutions tend to have a large digital footprint, spread across different sites and channels that have grown over time. In many cases this represents a “sprawl” with uncontrolled growth of the website estate, lacking central governance and controls.

18th May 2023
1pm (BST) on Zoom

AAAtraq are pleased to host a live webinar to help retailers improve their online performance.

Sitemorse likes to keep in regular contact with their clients, and feedback is essential to them! From many of their recent conversations and, of course, the current economic climate, they’re very aware of the balancing act authorities are playing between budgets, with compliance. This isn’t just an issue in Government at a Local level; Central Government must also keep a watchful eye on budgets. Many authorities are keen to make the case to senior management about maintaining a dedicated web team and evidence the important role a good website can play in increasing efficiency, and how cost effective this is.

A website must be accessible by law, and there are considerable financial risks associated with non-compliance. Every year more dollars are being spent on litigation, and the numbers are likely to keep on rising. At the same time, initiatives that are designed to drive compliance are simply not working. The situation is untenable in the longer term.

Each year there is an alarming increase in the level of litigation relating to online accessibility. In 2022 there were 3,255 claims filed in the US (opens in a new window), a year-on-year rise of 12%. These are the just the results that are in the public domain – there are thousands more ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) demand letters that are settled out of court.

AAAtraq is the world’s first service to combine automated compliance software with litigation support and costs coverage indemnity, giving organizations the opportunity to effectively manage the risks around online accessibility compliance and the inevitable corresponding costs.

Lack of executive ownership of the process of improving your website is at the heart of the problem

There is a societal need to be inclusive, and a legal requirement not to discriminate. Over the last five years, compliance spend and litigation have continued to rise, but with no discernible improvement in website accessibility compliance.

In the digital age, businesses and organizations must take into account their cross-border responsibilities when it comes to digital compliance. This includes ensuring accessibility and privacy for all users, regardless of their location or nationality. With the increasing use of the internet and digital technologies, it is crucial that website owners and operators understand their responsibilities and take the necessary steps to comply with regulations in different jurisdictions. Failure to comply can result in legal and financial consequences, as well as damage to the reputation of the business or organization.

The New York State Senate Bill S7572A, requiring contractors and vendors who supply websites and related services to the state to confirm that the sites and/or services meet website accessibility standards, became law on December 2, 2022 and will take effect on May 31, 2023. This bill has significant implications for contractors and vendors who work with the state, as well as for the state itself.

What is digital sprawl?

Post COVID, the number of digital assets including websites, web applications and online content has continued to grow rapidly. Digital sprawl refers to the proliferation of these digital assets which occurs within organizations without proper oversight and control of them, e.g., websites can be created for a variety of reasons such as personal projects, experimental initiatives and promotional events.

New York, March 13, 2023 - Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is already costing billions, to the Higher Education sector in particular, yet evidence shows that current approaches are failing.

Litigation against higher education institutions for non-compliance with online ADA shows no sign up slowing down, with recent cases against Harvard (opens in a new window), Berkeley (opens in a new window), Colgate (opens in a new window), Mercer (opens in a new window), Lafayette and Loyola (opens in a new window) – to name but a few.

Last week we wrote about new cases already being reported in 2023 (opens in a new window). No doubt we will see more and more cases being reported over the next few weeks. But what’s happened in the last week?

Key figure on 'online' accessibility bill moves from congress to senate.

To kick the new year off we’re hosting another webinar! This webinar will cover Vendor and Supplier Management, it’s open to all AAAtraq members and will be held on Tuesday, January 17th 2023 at 9:30 PST / 5:30 GMT / 12:30 EST.

The start of the year often brings about a series of changes with people making new year’s resolutions and organizations starting new campaigns. However, one change we haven’t seen is website ADA legal demands, it’s only a few days into the year and we’re already seeing stories hitting the headlines.

One question that organizations often ask is whether laws relating to website and online accessibility can be applied to them. There can be misconceptions that somehow if an organization is of a particular size or in particular sector, it means they are exempt. The truth is that there are virtually no exemptions – the law affects every organization in the US.

Throughout society there is a call to be increasingly inclusive. Yet more than 30 years after the establishment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, as well as recurring lawsuits for alleged inaccessible content in violation of the 1973 US Rehabilitation Act, high-branded institutions such as Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley (UCL Berkeley), are failing to achieve digital inclusion for Americans with a wide range of disabilities.

Why do so many organisations have websites that fail their basic legal requirement of being accessible to people living with disabilities and open themselves up to the risk of litigation?

When it comes to making a website accessible to ensure it meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other similar legislation, the immediate assumption is that this is an area purely for IT, the web or digital team, or a digital agency partner. Most business stakeholders will assume it’s “just one for the techies” to sort out, and a technical problem that can be fixed.

Receiving a demand letter from a legal firm with the potential threat of legal action can be stressful. But it’s becoming an everyday part of running a business.

New Report Shows Shocking Widespread Failure of Digital Inclusion; Litigation Risk

New York, November 8, 2022 - According to the new Risk INDEX™: Higher Education (opens in a new window) Report from InsurTech AAAtraq (opens in a new window), 96% of higher education websites are not accessible to people who browse the web with assistive devices, making them non-complaint with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In today’s post-secondary education environment, 19.4% of students are disabled.¹

For years, Congress has been incapable of enacting (and even introducing) legislation that would have a meaningful impact in assisting the millions of disabled Americans currently disenfranchised by discrimination on the internet.

While the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 508 do protect disabled individuals from most discrimination on the internet, it does not protect them in every instance or in every municipality.

If you’re the Risk Manager or AAAtraq Service Owner, you may hear this from your technical team, so be ready: THIS REPORT IS WRONG! RUBBISH! THIS SYSTEM DOESN’T WORK! IT’S INCORRECT!

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases

AAAtraq’s Risk Control Service guides clients through a step-by-step process to reduce the risk of ADA website litigation.

AAAtraq delivers an online ADA Risk Control Program focused on your website(s). The program is simple to deploy, allows you to assign tasks and enables clients to demonstrate significant improvement in just one week.

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases

There has been a lot of recent activity from Senators and other government departments, on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and how change needs to happen.

US institutions for the blind and people with disabilities are urging congress to move quickly on ’The Website and Software Accessibility Act’ introduced by Senator Tammy Duckworth and Congressman John Sarbanes on September 29th, 2022.

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases.

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases

If you’ve reached the stage where you understand the need to address the threat posed by a lack of ADA compliance, you ought to know that 94% of website homepages have compliance failures. Whether you have a coded, bespoke website or one constructed using templates from a Content Management System (CMS), there is no difference. It’s a steep challenge to create a fully compliant site that then remains so going forward.

It’s extremely important that you have an Accessibility Statement on your website, not least to demonstrate where you are with compliance, but to aid those who might find it a bit harder to access your website’s content, by giving them contacts to ask for help.

Our weekly roundup of recent ADA litigation cases