Are SAGE hosted websites in compliance with ADA and/or WCAG?

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Issue:

Are SAGE hosted websites in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)?

Solution:

As a general rule, we support efforts to make websites accessible to all web visitors.  We spend a significant amount of development resources working on website accessibility issues, many of which are contained within the WCAG standards.  We also use a number of accessibility validation checkers to assist with locating potential issues. These are ongoing efforts due to the changing nature of this area as well as the continuous upgrades and improvements that are made to our websites.

Please note that ADA compliance in relation to websites is an evolving area of the law.   Our legal team keeps a close eye on this area of the law as it continues to develop.  At this time, it is not clear throughout the US whether the ADA applies to all websites or not, and if it does, what that actually means. WCAG was created to try to translate ADA compliance into the website world. Some agencies and businesses have adopted a version of WCAG as a standard, but it is not currently settled as to whether WCAG compliance satisfies the ADA or whether it may require more than what the ADA would require.  This lack of clarity in the law will eventually need to be settled by legislative efforts and the courts.

It is also important to keep in mind that we offer our customers a website platform.  One common issue that all website platform providers face is that websites are dynamic.  While there are aspects of the platform that are within our realm, there are also substantial areas of our sites that are created by or for our individual customers.  Therefore, we are not in full control of what goes on our customers’ websites.  Just as one very simple example – a customer can go into the dashboard and change the colors of their site to be non-contrasting colors.  This is beyond our ability to control and in fact this customization capability of our sites is essential to what makes them so powerful and beloved.  Given this reality, it is not realistic or feasible for us to say all of our sites comply with all of the WCAG standards all of the time.

Lastly, be aware that online accessibility scanning tools vary in terms of their quality and adherence to the WCAG standards.  In some cases, the tools are overly-sensitive or otherwise identify false positives.  Some of these online tools are made by companies who also sell services to assist with website accessibility.

More Information:

What is WCAG?   WCAG refers to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.  See https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/ for more information.

What is ADA?  ADA refers to The Americans with Disabilities Act originally signed into law on July 26, 1990.  See https://www.ada.gov/ada_intro.htm for more information.

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