Website Accessibility

The Americans with Disabilities Act (AwDA) requires that places of public accommodation, including physicians’ and dentists’ offices, be accessible to persons with disabilities. With the advent of the internet, and of websites that businesses utilize to provide additional access to the public, the U.S. Department of Justice has taken the position that websites open to the public must also be accessible in various ways to persons with sight or hearing impairment.

To assist members with this issue, the ADA has prepared the following attached documents:

Website Accessibility- A quick rundown, in a brief, executive summary-type format, of steps that members should consider in the short term to make their websites less susceptible to a claim.

Website Accessibility Claims - Strategies for Dentists- A “white paper” type document that describes in greater detail strategies for members (and their attorneys) in case they receive a demand letter of the type described above. The paper also includes the actions that members might consider in order to make their websites more fully accessible to persons with disabilities in the long term.