Accessibility Compliance Case Study: Juice Generation
Juice Generation is “New York’s premier juice bar” and employs more than 200 people in 20 locations across the Big Apple. The company was founded in 1999 and specializes in juices, smoothies, and fruit bowls.
As a US-based business, Juice Generation must adhere to a set of accessibility rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA requires them to make accommodations for people with disabilities, and failure to comply leaves them at risk of being on the receiving end of a preventable lawsuit. Most consumers associate ADA accessibility with a company’s physical location, but ADA requirements extend to a business’ web presence as well. Juice Generation’s website was not compliant, and it put them at risk of being sued.
Here at Foridev, one of our specialties is ensuring the accessibility of eCommerce websites. We have performed many Magneto web accessibility audits, and all of our web solutions are compliant to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) up to Level AA. Juice Generation’s need was a perfect fit for us, as their site is built on the Magneto platform and WCAG compliance ensures meeting the requirements of the ADA.
We performed a full accessibility audit of their website and put together an estimate. It is much easier to build a compliant site than it is to bring one into compliance. Inspecting and adjusting every control and interface element takes time and extreme attention to detail. This is a task that you want high quality, meticulous developers performing – and our world-class meticulousness and attention to detail is exactly why we excel at it.
In the end, it would take our technical team about 150 hours of time to perform the work. Juice Generation accepted our bid, and we brought them into compliance. Now their website can be easily navigated by the over 40 million Americans who have disabilities, and their exposure to accessibility-related lawsuits has been significantly reduced!
About WCAG and ADA Standards
WCAG stands for “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” and are created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) open standards group as a set of international recommendations for how websites should be built to accommodate people with disabilities. They are only a set of guidelines, and are not enforced by any governing body.
The ADA, on the other hand, is a US law. US-based businesses (restaurants, stores, etc) who have websites that don’t meet the ADA requirements are at risk of being sued for noncompliance. If you are a US business and you’re unsure whether your site is compliant or not, it would greatly benefit you to have your website audited so that you know if you are at risk of a preventable lawsuit.
Prior to 2017, the US Department of Justice referenced WCAG Level AA as the proposed minimum standard for compliance with ADA requirements. This is no longer true as they have since stated:
…public accommodations have flexibility in how to comply with the ADA’s general requirements of nondiscrimination and effective communication. Accordingly, noncompliance with a voluntary technical standard for web accessibility does not necessarily indicate noncompliance with the ADA.
Though US businesses no longer have concretely defined rules they must follow to meet the ADA requirements, accessibility-related lawsuits are on the rise and complying with WCAG Level AA is still the safest way to reduce your business’ exposure to unnecessary litigation.
Lucky for you, Foridev is here to help! We are experts in designing e-commerce websites that are compliant to WCAG standards and are therefore in compliance with the ADA. If you’re interested in building a new business site or are just looking for some peace of mind, contact us now! We’ll be happy to take a look at your needs and build a solution that’s perfect for you.