Website accessibility isn't just the right thing to do — it's increasingly a legal requirement. Here's what Michigan business owners need to know to stay compliant and reach more customers.

Why Accessibility Should Be on Every Business Owner's Radar

One in four American adults lives with a disability. That's over 61 million people — and they're your potential customers. Website accessibility means designing and building your site so that people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities can use it effectively. Beyond being the right thing to do, it's increasingly a legal and business imperative that Michigan business owners can't afford to ignore.

Web accessibility lawsuits have surged in recent years, with over 4,000 ADA-related digital accessibility cases filed in 2025 alone. Small businesses aren't exempt — in fact, they're increasingly targeted because they're less likely to have compliant websites and more likely to settle quickly. Understanding the basics can protect your business and expand your customer base at the same time.

The Legal Landscape: ADA and Your Website

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses open to the public to provide accessible accommodations. Courts have increasingly interpreted this to include websites, especially after the landmark Domino's Pizza Supreme Court case established that websites connected to physical businesses must be accessible. If you have a physical location in Grand Rapids and a website, the law applies to you.

The Department of Justice has consistently reinforced that the ADA applies to websites and mobile apps. While there's no single technical standard mandated by law yet, courts overwhelmingly reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) as the benchmark. Meeting these guidelines is your strongest defense against legal claims — and the foundation for an accessible user experience.

Common Accessibility Issues on Small Business Websites

Most accessibility problems come from a handful of recurring issues. Missing alt text on images means screen readers can't describe your content to blind users. Low color contrast makes text unreadable for people with low vision — and older adults who make up a significant portion of consumer spending. Forms without proper labels confuse assistive technologies. Videos without captions exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.

Navigation that only works with a mouse locks out users who rely on keyboards or voice commands. Pop-ups and modals that trap focus or lack close buttons create dead ends. Auto-playing media with no pause control causes problems for people with cognitive or sensory sensitivities. The good news is that most of these issues are straightforward to fix when you know what to look for.

WCAG 2.1 AA: The Practical Standard for Small Businesses

WCAG 2.1 AA is organized around four principles: Perceivable (users can see or hear your content), Operable (users can navigate and interact), Understandable (content and interface are clear), and Robust (content works across assistive technologies). You don't need to memorize the full specification. Focus on these high-impact checkpoints.

Ensure all images have descriptive alt text. Maintain a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Make your entire site navigable by keyboard alone — tab through every page and verify that all interactive elements are reachable and usable. Add captions to videos and transcripts to audio content. Use semantic HTML (proper headings, landmarks, form labels) so assistive technologies can parse your page structure. These changes address the vast majority of accessibility issues on typical small business websites.

Accessibility Improves Your Site for Everyone

Here's something most business owners don't realize: accessibility improvements make your website better for all users, not just those with disabilities. Proper heading structure improves SEO because search engines use the same heading hierarchy that screen readers do. Alt text on images gives Google more context about your content. Faster load times — a core accessibility concern — benefit every visitor. High color contrast improves readability for everyone, including people on their phones in bright sunlight.

Accessible websites also tend to have cleaner code, which improves performance and maintainability. Sites built with accessibility in mind from the start load faster, rank better, convert more visitors, and cost less to maintain. It's one of the rare situations where doing the right thing and doing the smart business thing are exactly the same decision.

Quick Accessibility Audit You Can Do Right Now

You don't need specialized tools to catch the biggest accessibility problems. Start with the keyboard test: put your mouse away and try to navigate your entire website using only your keyboard (Tab, Enter, Escape, arrow keys). Can you reach every link, button, and form field? Can you see where the focus is as you tab through the page? If not, you have a keyboard accessibility problem that affects a large number of users.

Next, check your color contrast using a free tool like WebAIM's Contrast Checker. Paste in your text color and background color — if the ratio is below 4.5:1, your text is hard to read for people with low vision. Finally, right-click any image on your site, inspect the element, and look for the alt attribute. If it's empty or missing, screen readers will skip over that image entirely. These three checks take 15 minutes and reveal the most critical issues.

Building an Accessible Website from Day One

Retrofitting accessibility onto an existing website is always more expensive and time-consuming than building it in from the start. When we build custom websites for Michigan businesses, WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is part of the foundation — not an afterthought. Every component is tested with keyboard navigation, screen readers, and automated accessibility tools before it goes live.

If your current website has accessibility gaps, a redesign is often the most cost-effective path to full compliance. But even if a full rebuild isn't in the cards right now, incremental improvements make a meaningful difference. Start with the audit above, prioritize the most impactful fixes, and work toward compliance over time. If you want a professional accessibility audit with a clear remediation roadmap, we're happy to help — book a free strategy call and we'll walk through your site together.

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The Small Business Owner's Guide to Website Accessibility and ADA Compliance