Here’s something most people building websites — especially young entrepreneurs — never think about: the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t just apply to physical buildings with ramps and braille signs. It can apply to your website too.
The ADA.gov web accessibility guidance makes this pretty clear. Businesses that are open to the public — legally called “places of public accommodation” — are expected to make sure their websites work for people with disabilities. That includes people who are blind or have low vision, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people who have other disabilities that affect how they use the internet.
And the part that surprises most people? Having no physical storefront doesn’t necessarily protect you. Many courts have taken the position that if your website is open to the general public and you’re operating as a business, you may still fall under the ADA’s rules — though how courts apply this varies depending on where you are in the country, so the legal picture isn’t identical in every state.
The American Bar Association has noted that a key debate in ongoing legislation is specifically about whether digital spaces tied to no physical location are covered under Title III of the ADA — and proposed legislation is pushing to formally confirm that yes, they are. So this isn’t some fringe legal theory — it’s actively being addressed at the legislative level, even if that legislation hasn’t passed yet.
The technical standard that comes up most in these cases is called WCAG — the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Things like: can a blind person use a screen reader to navigate your site? Do your images have alt text? Can someone with a motor disability use your site without a mouse? These are the kinds of things that get examined.
So what does this mean if you’re building a website, running a side hustle with an online storefront, or launching any kind of public-facing project?
It means accessibility isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s something worth actually paying attention to from the start — because fixing it after a legal complaint is way harder and more expensive than building it right the first time. There are free tools out there that can scan your site for basic accessibility issues, and following WCAG guidelines is a solid starting point.
Nobody’s saying you need to be a lawyer to build a website. But knowing this rule exists? That’s the kind of thing that can save you a serious headache down the road.