Y’all, the Department of Justice just dropped some SUPER practical guidance about digital accessibility programs, and I am absolutely geeking out about it! While it was technically written for state and local governments, this is pure gold for any business wanting to make their website accessible (which should be all of you, just saying).
Let me break down the most important parts and explain why they matter for your business.
1. Train Your People (But Do It Right!)
Here’s what gets me excited: The DOJ isn’t just saying “train your staff” – they’re saying you need to train different people differently based on their role. Makes sense, right? Your content creators need different accessibility knowledge than your customer service team.
Quick examples:
- Your web designers and developers need training on coding accessible components, handling ARIA, and ensuring keyboard navigation works.
- Your content creators need to understand alternative text, heading structures, and video captions.
- Your customer support team should know how to respond to accessibility requests.
Hey, if you want some fast-but-valuable training for your team, send them to my low-cost, high-value weekly Website Accessibility and Usability Evaluations.
2. Know What You’re Working With
Before you dive into fixing accessibility issues, you need to know exactly what digital content you have. I’m talking:
- All your websites (yes, even that one-off landing page you forgot about)
- Mobile apps
- Social media platforms
- Different content types (HTML content, PDFs, videos, images)
Pro tip: Make a spreadsheet. Trust me, you’ll thank me later when you’re not discovering random web pages six months into your accessibility journey!
3. Prioritize Smart (Not Everything Is Urgent)
This is where it gets interesting. The DOJ actually lists some content types that can be lower priority, including:
- Archived content
- Third-party posts
- Password-protected documents
- Old PDFs and documents
- Previous social media posts
Does this mean you can ignore these forever? Nope! But it means you can focus your immediate efforts where they’ll make the biggest impact. And we are all about high-impact and LOW-EFFORT.
4. Audit Your Content (And Do It Right!)
Here’s a truth bomb: You cannot rely solely on automated testing tools. I know, I know – they’re convenient and fast. But they only catch about 30% of accessibility issues. The DOJ is crystal clear that you need both automated AND manual testing.
My recommendation? Unless you have serious accessibility expertise in-house, hire a reputable third-party expert. Yes, it costs money, but it’s WAY cheaper than an accessibility lawsuit (which average $25,000, by the way).
5. Make a Smart Action Plan
Once you know what needs fixing, don’t just dive in randomly. The DOJ suggests prioritizing:
- Issues affecting key tasks (like your checkout process! Don’t make it hard for people to give you their money!)
- Frequently accessed content
- Problems users have reported (if someone has already reported a problem, fix it first)
- Features in development
- Elements that appear everywhere (like navigation menus and footer content)
- Template-based content (if a problem is in a page template, fixing it once will improve many pages at once)
This is just smart business – fix the high-impact stuff first!
6. Get Your Vendors on Board
This one’s crucial: If you’re using third-party tools or content on your site, you need to make sure they’re accessible too. The DOJ recommends:
- Getting accessibility info BEFORE signing contracts
- Including accessibility warranties
- Not letting vendors wiggle out of accessibility requirements
- Making vendors responsible if their stuff isn’t accessible
- Testing vendor products before implementing them
What This Means For You
Whether you’re a small business owner or working with clients, this guidance gives us a clear roadmap for accessibility implementation. It’s not just about checking boxes – it’s about creating a sustainable program that actually works. Send an email to info@level11technology.com if you want to know how we can help you.
Source: This breakdown is based on DOJ’s recent guidance. For the complete legal details, check out Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s excellent analysis.
Drop a comment below: Which of these steps do you think is most challenging for businesses to implement?
Leave a Reply