Website accessibility lawsuits hit a record high in 2025. Over 4,000 federal lawsuits were filed against businesses whose websites were not accessible to people with disabilities. And these were not just big companies. Small businesses, restaurants, medical practices, and local shops got sued too.
What Website Accessibility Actually Means
Accessibility means people with disabilities can use your website. That includes people who:
- Use screen readers because they cannot see the screen
- Navigate with a keyboard because they cannot use a mouse
- Need captions on videos because they cannot hear audio
- Have low vision and need sufficient color contrast
- Have motor disabilities and need large click targets
The standard that courts reference is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. It is a technical specification published by the W3C that defines exactly what an accessible website looks like.
Why It Matters Beyond Lawsuits
Legal risk is real, but accessibility is also just good business. About 26% of American adults live with some type of disability. If your website is hard to use for a quarter of the population, you are turning away customers.
Accessible websites also tend to:
- Score higher in search rankings (Google considers accessibility signals)
- Work better on mobile devices
- Load faster (accessible code is cleaner code)
- Convert better (clear navigation helps everyone)
Common Issues We Find
When we run a conformance review on a small business website, the most common accessibility issues are:
- Missing alt text on images. Screen readers cannot describe an image if there is no alt attribute.
- Low color contrast. Light gray text on a white background looks elegant but is unreadable for people with low vision.
- No keyboard navigation. If you cannot tab through your menu, forms, and buttons without a mouse, keyboard users are locked out.
- Missing form labels. Screen readers need labels to tell users what a form field is for. Placeholder text is not enough.
- No skip navigation link. Screen reader users have to listen to your entire header and navigation on every single page unless you provide a skip link.
Getting Started
You do not need to fix everything at once. Start with the highest impact items:
- Add alt text to every image
- Check your color contrast ratios (use WebAIM Contrast Checker for free)
- Make sure every form field has a visible label
- Test your site with just a keyboard — can you reach everything?
Every website we build at MayhemTBD meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA from day one. And our free website checkup includes accessibility checks as part of the standard review. If you want to know where your site stands, request yours here.