ADA: Curb Cuts on the WWW

This issue is dedicated to compliance with ADA on the Web. Compliance Action gives special thanks to Andy Zavoina, our newest Advisor. Andy is creative and farsighted when it comes to doings on the Internet. We hope you find his insights and ideas valuable.

On the Internet, compliance with ADA is about much more than the familiar corrective steps for hearing -impaired, vision-impaired, and movement-impaired individuals. There are new and different needs that must be accommodated. For example, can a color-blind person read your screen? Is your website software compatible with the software used by sight-impaired people to read information on the website?

With ten years of the Americans with Disabilities Act behind us, it is no longer unusual to see someone in a wheelchair in a restaurant or the mall. The reason for this is simple; it is easier to get around. And who has not seen an able-bodied person using a ramp to enter a public building rather than the stairs or using a curb cut as they pushed a stroller. What makes it easier for the disabled also makes it easier for the "abled".

With a few modifications to your Web site, you could improve accessibility for all your customers, and customers to be. There is a large market segment of persons who have problems accessing many Web sites. If one of these is yours, it means that they do not see your messages and cannot access your information online. Information you feel is important is not reaching all that it can or should. More importantly, by making your site more accessible you will reach a customer base that your competitor may not. In 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. With a little effort, you can add site modifications that will not only increase your market appeal but will also make you compliant with the law, legally and morally. This is a "win-win". These modifications will not only increase the ability for the disabled to navigate your site and understand your content, it will increase the appeal to anyone who wants to surf your site with graphics turned off as a speed enhancement. It will make your site load faster and it could help prepare you for tomorrow's wireless Web viewers. And, it is just the right thing to do.

Usability and Accessibility
Your Webmaster or a focus group has reviewed your web site for "usability". This is a study of how your site functions and whether or not the architecture provides a common sense path for the user to get from your home page to the product or service they want. Poor usability standards translate into a difficult user experience. A difficult user experience translates into less use of your site. Less use of your site can make it a waste of time and a technological disadvantage.

Now carry usability over to "accessibility". The latter has the same intent, but is applicable to those users with a physical disability. Making a site accessible means that it can be navigated and understood by someone who cannot distinguish some color differences or see at all, and by someone who cannot hear the audio portion of your sites multimedia file, such as a welcome message. Accessibility to the Web is like a curb cut on your street corner. It clears the path.

Does the ADA Apply
Many banks studied the ADA ten years ago to determine what the impact would be. It was feared that large amounts of money would have to be budgeted for building renovations. While a lot of work was done, many structures were grandfathered. If it was an undue burden on the bank, structural modifications could be dismissed unless the building was renovated. Then the new requirements could be integrated. Any new structure does have to conform to the new law of accessibility.

While we know that properly inclined ramps are not applicable to our Web sites, equal access is. The Department of Justice has opined that Web sites do fall within the purview of the ADA.

"Covered entities under the ADA are required to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well."

Web sites in use today were not built prior to 1990 and cannot be grandfathered. Similarly, to argue that it is an undue burden to make a site accessible now is to say the law in effect wasn't followed but that is OK. While the cost to improve a Web site's accessibility will depend on many factors, there are many options. You may choose to have two sites. One with the high-tech bells and whistles many Internet users want to see, and another that is accessible friendly. The latter can also be primed for wireless access making it more cost effective.

As with the Internet itself, accessibility guidelines are evolving. There are many cites of best practices and things you should do, but very few specific rules. This means you have some flexibility, both in how much you do and the order in which you do it. There are a number of things that cause accessibility problems. Each is correctable or can be provided in an alternate form. Some problem areas to concentrate on include:

Images
Colors
Audio files
Frames
Tables
Forms
Navigation
Java Scripts

Accessibility standards should be established for your Web site and they should be documented, even if it is just a checklist available on a resource site such as those listed in this article. This also provides you with an auditing tool to ensure your site remains at its required level of accessibility. Web sites should already be audited for regulatory compliance and information technology issues. Add to those reviews, accessibility. Look for these attributes when you also review your Web site.

Tools You Need
Once you have your site coded for accessibility, it needs to be reviewed and tested for assurance. This is the process that should be used to validate what has been done and to verify the desired results have been achieved. Similarly, these would be the tools used to audit your site.

Reviewing your site is critical. Is it readable and will it be understood or will it look something like "[INLINE] Three Steps [INLINE] Your Financial Headquarters [LINK] [INLINE]".

Lynx is a text based Web browser. It will assist in testing what your site will look like and help you understand how it would be viewed and heard by a disabled user. As an example, a low vision user may turn screen magnification up to actually read your site. Does the text flow as it should or do frame navigation and graphics interfere and make it not coherent. You can also draw conclusions on how it would sound if a text reader was used. This is an excellent way to test a site that is in frames or tables. You may download the entire Lynx browser at: (http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm) so that you can test all of your site whenever you want, offline. Or you may check one page at a time (http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html) live on the Web. You may also turn off graphics in your current browser and take a quick look at a few pages on your site. Can you see the alternative text describing the graphics content and does it make sense or does it say "ehl.gif" which makes no sense at all. Alternative text could say, "First National Bank is an Equal Housing Lender".

You may also validate your site for accessibility and place on it a seal of approval. The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) is a not-for-profit group that is striving to make the Web accessible for all. They have made available Bobby. This is tool that reviews the code on your site and identifies accessibility problems. Like Lynx, it may be used online (http://www.cast.org/bobby/), one page at a time, or downloaded (http://www.cast.org/Bobby/DownloadBobby316.cfm) and used faster and more efficiently on your own computer. It shows you an image of your site, showing you where problems may exist and provides a text report of the problems. It goes further and provides ideas on how to fix these. Once it passes the test, you may place the Bobby seal on your site and enter it for submission into the CAST database. There are only a small handful of bank Web sites currently on this list.

Making your Web site accessible means that everyone who wants to use it, may. This is certainly good for your site's traffic and brand recognition, making it good for business. Adding the additional code to your Web site is not difficult to do and can be done when the content is updated. This is not Y2K, Part 2. That makes it cost effective. Ask yourself, why wouldn't you do this? ADA compliance is the right thing to do.

To review some pertinent points:

The ADA requires equal access be provided to those with disabilities.
The Department of Justice has opined that Web sites are subject to ADA requirements.
The Federal Access Board has released standards that governmental web sites must follow. Best practice guidelines are also published on the W3C WAI site.
The ADA provides a legal means for the disabled to fight discrimination.
Under title III, the Department of Justice may obtain civil penalties of up to $50,000 for the first ADA violation and $100,000 for any subsequent violation.
Groups representing the disabled have sued Internet providers over equal access.
Groups representing the disabled have sued over ATM accessibility
The same "undue burden" allowance that exempted many physical structures may not apply to your Web site since it didn't exist when this law was passed.

ACTION STEPS

Share this article with your technical Internet experts.
Review your Web site for concerns mentioned in this issue. If you identify problems, discuss them with your Web Techies.
Visit the Lynx and Case websites. Get familiar with them and then test your Web pages.
Scan through federal Web sites, especially HUD's, DOJ's and the EEOC's for examples of ADA compliant designs.
Bookmark sites that have useful ADA information and visit them periodically to be sure you remain state-of-the-art.
Visit your branch managers and discuss ADA with them. They can tell you how customers are affected by disabilities and ways your institution does and could respond.