The best argument for becoming accessible *now*
In previous messages to this list, I’ve described the looming compliance requirements surrounding the European Accessibility Act (EAA), California’s AB 1757, recent changes to Title II of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. I’d like to take a moment to outline why now is the right time to begin addressing your digital accessibility.
Many organizations take a “wait and see” approach to compliance with accessibility regulations. On the surface, this can seem like a smart approach when you consider the low probability of an adverse event. The problem with that approach is the massive disruption that an event will create.
Consider, for example, the case of Vueling Airlines who, it was announced back in April, had been fined €90,000. “The sentence also prohibits the airline to receive public funds from the Secretary of State for Social Rights for a period of six months.“, the story says.
The fine is, frankly, barely a drop in the bucket for a company that has over €1B in revenue. The fine represents approximately 0.009% of their annual revenue. The bigger problem is the cost of disruption.
See, the fine is only part of what Vueling now has to deal with. They don’t just get to pay the fine and go about business as usual. They have to bring their site into compliance or they will face additional regulatory enforcement actions in Spain and in any other country in the EU. So now they have to deal with diverting some portion of their development staff to remediating their site. And this disruption can be expensive!
The most reliable way to avoid the disruption is to start your accessibility journey now. The most important step is to train your staff about accessibility. The 2nd most important step is to develop a plan for taking deliberate and proactive steps so you’re not caught off guard.
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