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New Accessibility Requirements for Business Websites: ADA Compliance Trends in 2025
News | | 6 min read

New Accessibility Requirements for Business Websites: ADA Compliance Trends in 2025

Website accessibility isn’t just a best practice anymore — it’s increasingly a legal requirement. ADA-related website lawsuits have risen steadily over the past several years, and 2025 is on pace to set another record. For small business owners, understanding what’s changing and taking action now can prevent costly legal issues and improve the experience for all your visitors.

What’s Driving the Change

In April 2024, the Department of Justice published a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring state and local government websites to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. While this rule applies directly to government entities, it has accelerated the broader trend toward holding all public-facing websites to accessibility standards.

Private businesses operating public-facing websites have been the target of ADA lawsuits for years, and courts have increasingly ruled that websites qualify as “places of public accommodation” under the ADA. The combination of clearer government standards and active plaintiff law firms has put small businesses on notice.

The numbers are stark. Thousands of website accessibility lawsuits are filed annually, and small businesses are frequent targets because their websites are more likely to have accessibility gaps and they’re more likely to settle quickly.

What WCAG 2.1 Level AA Requires

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1 Level AA is the standard most courts and regulators reference. Here’s what it means in practical terms:

Perceivable. All content must be presentable in ways users can perceive. This includes alt text for images, captions for videos, sufficient color contrast, and text that can be resized without breaking the layout.

Operable. Users must be able to navigate and interact with your website using a keyboard alone (no mouse required). Interactive elements like forms, buttons, and menus must be accessible via keyboard navigation and screen readers.

Understandable. Content must be readable and predictable. Forms should have clear labels and error messages. Navigation should be consistent across pages.

Robust. Your website must work with assistive technologies like screen readers. This means using proper HTML semantics, ARIA labels where needed, and ensuring compatibility with common accessibility tools.

The most common accessibility issues found on small business websites are missing alt text on images, insufficient color contrast, form fields without labels, and missing keyboard navigation support. These are relatively straightforward to fix and address the majority of compliance gaps.

What Small Businesses Should Do Now

Run an accessibility audit. Use free tools like Google Lighthouse, WAVE, or axe DevTools to scan your website for accessibility issues. These tools won’t catch everything, but they identify the most common problems quickly.

Fix the fundamentals first. Address the high-impact issues that affect the most users:

  • Add descriptive alt text to every image
  • Ensure all form fields have visible labels
  • Check that color contrast ratios meet the 4.5:1 minimum for normal text
  • Verify that your entire site can be navigated with a keyboard
  • Add captions or transcripts to any video content

Update your website template. If you’re using a website builder or CMS theme, check whether it has been updated for accessibility compliance. Many modern themes now include built-in accessibility features. If yours hasn’t been updated, it may be time for a refresh.

Consider professional help. For businesses with complex websites, an accessibility consultant or agency can conduct a thorough audit and remediation. The cost of proactive compliance is a fraction of what a lawsuit settlement would cost.

Be cautious of accessibility overlay tools that promise one-click compliance. While some provide marginal improvements, they are not a substitute for proper accessibility implementation and have been criticized by accessibility advocates and even targeted in lawsuits themselves.

Accessibility improvements don’t just protect you from lawsuits — they improve your website for everyone. Accessible websites tend to have:

  • Better SEO performance — search engines reward proper HTML structure, alt text, and clear content hierarchy
  • Higher conversion rates — clear forms, readable text, and intuitive navigation benefit all users
  • Broader reach — approximately 1 in 4 adults in the US lives with a disability. An inaccessible website excludes a significant portion of potential customers

Making your website accessible is both the right thing to do and a smart business decision. The trend toward stronger enforcement and clearer standards isn’t slowing down. Small businesses that address accessibility proactively will avoid legal headaches and serve their customers better in the process.