What is Website Accessibility and Why Should I Care? Solutions, Tax Credit Eligibility, and More in 2024

This article is aimed at a USA audience but much of the general principles apply in other countries. This is not legal or financial advice.

It its 2018 amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) decided that websites are subject to their disability compliance laws since they’re considered public places of accommodation. Additionally, this ADA revision expanded what qualifies as a disability, opening up the possibility for many more potential lawsuits.

accessiBe is a software that attempts to automatically fix all of your website’s accessibility issues with AI, dramatically reducing the cost of manual remediation.

Since it’s not manual, the cost is significantly lower and the fixes are ongoing–instead of one-time and then becoming outdated every time you modify your website’s design or content (yes, including adding new blog posts). Some parts of your site may not be able to be automatically remedied, such as PDF files.

It’s as easy as buying their very affordable plan (starting at $49/mo or $490/yr), installing a WordPress plugin (or code snippet for non-WP sites), and clicking a few settings. Then you’ll receive the ongoing benefits of an ongoing accessibility solution. If you hire us for additional website services (e.g. SEO), we’ll likely initiate and manage your accessiBe implementation, in which case it may appear like we’re charging you more than accessiBe would charge you directly, but you’ll be receiving the accessibility benefits as part of a larger package of website management, accessibility, and/or optimization services. Plus, if you buy through our Marketing Agency as part of a package of services, we’ll be able to provide you an accessiBe discount on any plan by bundling it with your other ongoing services.

A lot of the accessibility best practices go hand-in-hand with SEO best practices!

You can get a free analysis of your own site by going to the accessiBe homepage > Products drop-down > then “Run Audit Now” on the far-right side:

All paid plans include their Litigation Support Package

This benefit is accessiBe’s Support assisting you in multiple ways in the event you receive a demand letter or are targeted by a website accessibility compliance lawsuit. It’s documentation showing your site has been / is currently compliant, plus their suggested wording for your response, and many more benefits. PDF with full details.

Dedicated personal assistance, including a bulk of compliance-supporting documentation if your compliance is challenged.

They also provide you an ADA compliance notice you can post on your site (like your TOS and Privacy Policy pages).

Accessibility Resources

If you’re comparing accessiBe with other alternatives, this is their “us vs them” page.

AudioEye offers a thorough website accessibility Checklist that’s a great resource regardless of which accessibility solution you choose.free website scan tool and

Business News Daily has a thorough list of website accessibility FAQs, including explaining what it is, which businesses are required to comply with federal regulations, and documenting some benefits of offering an accessible website to the public even if you’re not required to:

$5,000 Tax Credit? Yes, please!

The Disabled Access Tax Credit (Form 8826) is a non-refundable credit for small businesses that have expenses for providing access to persons with disabilities. Eligible expenses include installing a wheelchair ramp or making your website conform with accessibility guidelines.

An eligible small business is one that earned $1 million or less or had no more than 30 full-time employees in the previous year. The business does not need to meet both eligibility requirements.

Here’s how it works: qualifying businesses may receive a tax credit for up to 50% of expenditures up to $10,000 after the first $250, for a maximum credit of $5,000. A business may claim the credit for each year they incur expenditures related to accessibility.

For example, if you paid $3,000 in eligible expenses, minus $250, then divide by 2 = $1,375 in tax credits from $3k spend (45.83% in this example). Keep in mind, this is for all disability-related expenses, not only website accessibility expenses.

Organizations exempt from complying with the ADA are those with fewer than 15 employees, but these organizations would definitely qualify for the tax credit regardless of their revenue, since they have 30 or fewer FT employees.