ADA website compliance for small businesses: what the law says in 2026

The Justice Department's position is that the ADA covers the websites of businesses open to the public, but the law names no technical standard for them. In practice lawsuits and settlements measure sites against WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA, so meeting that is the defensible position.

Written by the nextwebsite.co team, and last checked on November 7, 2026.

Does the ADA apply to my website?

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers businesses open to the public, such as shops, clinics, restaurants, hotels and professional offices. The Department of Justice has long taken the position that this includes their websites, and its 2022 guidance says so directly¹.

What the law doesn't do is name a technical standard for private businesses. The same guidance says businesses have flexibility in how they make their sites accessible, and points to WCAG as helpful guidance¹.

What courts and settlements actually use

Without a standard in the statute, the measure comes from practice. Lawsuits, demand letters and settlements typically measure websites against WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 level AA². WCAG 2.2 AA covers both, because content that meets 2.2 also meets 2.1⁶.

The numbers

More than 5,000 digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in US federal and state courts in 2025, and 45% of the federal cases were against businesses that had been sued before². More than 6,000 are projected for 2026, which would be a record³.

Government sites have firm dates; businesses don't

A separate rule under Title II covers state and local governments. It adopts WCAG 2.1 AA, and in April 2026 the Justice Department pushed its compliance dates back a year, to 26 April 2027 for larger public entities and 26 April 2028 for smaller ones⁴. If you build or run web services for a public body under contract, those dates can reach you too.

If you sell to customers in the European Union, the European Accessibility Act has applied to many consumer products and services, including e-commerce, since 28 June 2025⁵.

What to do

Test the site against WCAG 2.2 AA, both with an automated tool and by a person using a keyboard and a screen reader. Fix the pages that matter most first: the homepage, contact, booking and any form. Publish an accessibility statement with a way to report a problem, and keep a dated record of what you tested and fixed. If you receive a demand letter, talk to a lawyer; this guide is general information, not legal advice.

Checklist

Test the site against WCAG 2.2 AA, by machine and by a person with a keyboard and a screen reader.
Fix the barriers on the pages that matter most first: home, contact, booking and forms.
Publish an accessibility statement with a way to report a problem.
Re-test after every redesign and every new form or plugin.
Keep a dated record of what you tested and fixed.

Check your own site

The free scan checks your pages for the accessibility problems a machine can find, and marks the checks that need a person. It takes under a minute.

Or run just this check: the accessibility checker.