Navigating Through ADA Compliance on Property Websites

Americans with Disabilities Act compliance is going beyond the physical equipment around the property and into the digital age. Website accessibility for the disabled has become a hot topic in recent years and the multifamily community needs to consider property website compliance. Earlier this year, regulations aimed at federal institutions to ensure website-accessibility compliance began taking effect as part of Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA. Generally, federal websites need to be accessible for those who have disabilities, including those visually or hearing impaired. While it wasn’t much of a topic in 1990 when the ADA was enacted, website accessibility has become more relevant because of the development of e-Commerce. Now that America does practically everything online, questions are being raised about how companies are accessible to disabled persons beyond their walls. Courts rule that non-accessible websites violate ADA Title II, III Recent cases involving Winn-Dixie and Target, among others, have significantly elevated the discussion. Courts have ruled in favor of plaintiffs because of violations to Title III of the ADA based on large disparities between physical locations and online presences. Title III prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors’ offices). In June last year, a Florida federal court said in Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., that the grocery chain’s website violated Title III because a disabled person couldn’t access features like downloadable coupons and order prescriptions. The court said that Winn-Dixie’s website was a gateway to its stores and considered a “public accommodation” that is required by law to pr...