undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmschuster912y ago0 comments

> Accessibility support is a matter of priorities for a given project.

Not any more. In the US this hasn't been the case for years since 2019 [1], and in Europe a similar requirement will take power in 2025 at the latest [2].

There is no choice any more if you cater to either markets: either you're compliant or you can and will get fined to oblivion.

[1] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-07/blind-pers...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Accessibility_Act

0 comments

hajile2y ago

That first link doesn't say what you claim it does.

SCOTUS rejected hearing the case and has let the 9th circuit decision stand for now. That means the ruling ONLY applies in areas of the US that fall under the 9th circuit. Further, if SCOTUS chooses to hear the case in the future, they may well overturn the 9th circuit decision.

As they point out in that article, this decision would instantly make hundreds of thousands of business non-compliant and open them up to being destroyed by accessibility lawsuits.

A megacorp will just do the work and write off the expenses.

Small businesses are different. Faced with tens of thousands in expenses, they have two options. The first is that they eliminate their website entirely. This hurts them and almost all of their customers (including disabled people who might have relied on the partially accessible features). The second is to lay off employees to pay for the work. Neither option is very good.

mschuster91OP2y ago

> That means the ruling ONLY applies in areas of the US that fall under the 9th circuit.

Ah, thanks. I'm German, I thought federal court orders were binding for the whole country.

> Small businesses are different.

Actually small businesses are exempt. The EU EEA has a threshold of 10 employees/2 million euros balance, and the US ADA - at least from a quick Google - of 15 employees [1]. If you're hitting either of these thresholds, you're large enough to afford a once-off expense and hell, you should have a couple tens of thousands of dollars in reserve anyway simply because your employees rely on you being able to make payroll even if disaster strikes - even at 10 employees and 3000 dollars per employee in total cost, that's 30k in payroll a month total so you should have 60k in reserve anyway.

For those who don't, well, please don't operate in a way that externalizes costs and risks onto others - no matter if it's disabled people, your employees or your customers.

> Faced with tens of thousands in expenses, they have two options.

A lot of small businesses don't do their own website, they use social media or SaaS providers - Wix, Wordpress, Jimdo, or (for restaurants) Just Eat and their competitors. For them, the SaaS provider does the heavy lifting, and besides: these sites usually don't have much content anyway.

[1] https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/ada-primer-small-business...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse