ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a United States law. It only matters to you if you sell or provide a service there, and it is a subject for a lawyer.
About the rule
- Type
- US federal law
- Date of the rule
- 26 July 1990
- Name
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended
- Source
- ADA.gov, US Department of Justice
- Official source
- ADA.gov, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended
What it says, in broad terms
It is a civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of disability in areas such as employment, public services and businesses open to the public.
The text of the law sets no technical standard for websites. In practice, courts and lawsuits have leaned on WCAG as a reference, and not all of them treat it the same way.
The four principles of web accessibility
WCAG, the technical reference we measure against, groups its criteria into four principles.
Perceivable
Visitors can perceive the information by sight, hearing or touch. For example, alternative text on product photos or enough contrast on buttons.
Operable
Everything can be used with a keyboard and without unfair time limits, and controls are big enough to press.
Understandable
Text reads well, the site behaves as expected and form errors say what happened and how to fix it.
Robust
The code is interpreted correctly by different browsers and by assistive technologies such as screen readers.
Who it is addressed to
A summary by title of the law. The official text spells out each case.
Title I, employment
Employers, under the conditions the law sets.
Title II, administrations
State and local governments.
Title III, businesses open to the public
Businesses and other places open to the public. Whether an online-only shop falls in this category is disputed among courts.
What we measure
- Text contrast: at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (WCAG 2.2, criterion 1.4.3). Method: an automatic check in the browser, with the value and its threshold.
- Alternative text, form labels, keyboard and structure, with the same partial coverage.
What we don't measure
- Whether the ADA applies to your shop or whether someone can bring a claim against you under it.
- Any risk of a claim or its cost.
- Keyboard and screen reader tests by a person: only in the diagnosis with human review.
Pending review by an adviser or lawyer
We could not confirm this against the official source, or it depends on your case. Don't take it as valid until someone has reviewed it.
- Whether the ADA affects you: only if you have customers, an office or activity in the United States, and courts differ.
- Which technical reference courts and the Department of Justice use today for private websites.
- Penalties and claims. We don't summarise them here.
Open the official source. Page written on 1 November 2026.
Other rules you may have heard of
Each one answers a different question. The pages complement each other.
Law 11/2023
The Spanish law that transposes the European directive on the accessibility of products and services. Here is what it says in broad terms and what we can measure on an online shop.
See the page
RD 1112/2018
The Spanish royal decree on the accessibility of public sector websites and mobile apps. It is the rule most often mixed up with the ones for online shops.
See the page
WCAG
The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. They are not a law: they are the technical reference we measure against.
See the page
EAA
The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It is the European rule that affects people who sell online the most.
See the page
EN 301 549
The European standard for the accessibility requirements of ICT products and services. It is technical and voluntary on its own, but other rules take it as a reference.
See the page
Start by measuring your shop.
The automatic audit measures what can be measured from the outside and tells you what is left for your adviser or lawyer.