Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com July 18, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 3 ADA compliance extending into firms' internet offerings By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com I magine that one day you use your PC or smartphone, but the homepages you're trying to pull up won't. Or, you see some- thing interesting on the site, but you're unable, using keyboard or mouse, to open the page or click on it for more details. Many users of these devices rarely encoun- ter those difficulties. However, there are some whose physical disabilities make fully harvest- ing the wealth of information residing on the internet about as easy as climbing Mt. Everest. These are users — the visionless and the color blind, the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and those who have difficulty grasping a computer mouse — for whom a federal anti-discrimina- tion law and revised industry standards for mak- ing websites more disabled-user friendly, known as WCAG 2.0, have come to the rescue. But they are also catching Connecticut businesses off guard, forcing some to quickly get their sites into compliance. Thanks to the latest version of web content accessibility guidelines and aggressive out- reach and compliance prosecution by the fed- eral Department of Justice (DOJ), businesses and local, state and federal agencies through- out Connecticut are getting the message that the internet must be accessible to everyone, even if it means redesigning every feature on a site to make it so, experts say. It's a message that Lance Leifert, co- founder and CEO of Conquest Consulting, an Avon marketing, branding, digital-design and development consultancy, preaches to his clients, particularly banks and credit unions because they were among the earliest to openly embrace the internet to market loans and other financial products and services. But in doing so, Leifert, a former UConn professor, says he's encountering an unset- tling level of misunderstanding and ignorance among banks and others as to the amount of work and time needed to bring their com- mercial websites into compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). The good news for many businesses, and some state and local governments, is that some original compliance deadlines, including one originally to hit in October, have been pushed back. The compliance deadline for state and local governments, for example, is now 2018. The bad news, though, is that some courts have already ruled on some previously filed com- plaints against commercial websites not in com- pliance with the ADA, with most ordered to bring their sites to compliance right away. Meantime, some Connecticut lenders, rang- ing from Waterbury super-regional Webster Bank to community lender Simsbury Bank & Trust, say they are working as briskly as possible to bring their online sites into ADA compliance. "The issue we're seeing,'' Leifert said, "is a lot of banks think they can manage their ADA compliance. When most people think of banks being compliant, they think of wheelchair ramps and Braille keypads. The DOJ has now established federally-mandated guidelines for the way financial institutions' websites are cre- ated to provide productive access for individu- als with disabilities, according to the ADA." Aside from presenting those ADA-Internet guidelines, Uncle Sam, too, has shown his resolve to enforce compliance. That alone is enough to get the attention of commercial web operators, Leifert and other experts say. Stop & Shop Supermarket's sister gro- cery-delivery service, Peapod, not long ago resolved its DOJ compliance suit alleging key parts of its website were inaccessible to dis- abled shoppers. Among other things, Peapod agreed to assign a person full-time to monitor its site's accessibility and compliance. Wells Fargo Bank, tax adviser H&R Block, Hilton Hotels and Lucky Jeans are among other U.S. companies that have consented to decrees with the government to improve their ADA-Internet access/compliance. The Justice Department declined HBJ's request for general comment as to its efforts to ensure compliance with the latest version of the private-sector crafted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG 2.0. However, DOJ has said in previous court filings it pursued certain companies based on consumer complaints ranging from a blind Continued U.S. companies are under mounting legal pressure to ensure their online sites are fully accessible for all consumers. Above, home food-deliverer Peapod's revised homepage includes a link to its "accessibility policy'' and a disclaimer. Vito's by the Park Three course Prix Fixe meal All Day & Evening Through July 31 Vito's by the Park 26 Trumbull St. Hartford, CT 06013 (860) 244-2200 $ 30 .16* *plus tax & gratuity Taste of Vito's

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