Resources for Businesses
Guidance for businesses to become
ADA and WCAG/ADA compliant.
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At least 7 Million Annual Adirondack Tourists
21 Billion Dollars in Discretionary Income for Working Age People with Disabilities
It Pays to be Accessible
It’s estimated that 7 to 12.4 million people visit the Adirondacks each year.
Visitors from within New York State comprise 3 out of 4 visitors to Essex and Hamilton counties alone. Did you know that 21% of adults in New York State have a disability? That’s 1 in 5.
This data represents that over 1 million people with disabilities could be detered from participating in our local economies each year for lack of accessible physical locations, websites and social media pages.
We Want to Help You
to Become Accessible
We’re here to help you by providing you with information that your business can use to help itself to become more accessible. We offer resources for both the awareness and remediation phases, but we cannot recommend any specific service providers. No matter which provider(s) you choose always ask for images of their work (e.g., a wheelchair ramp) or test their work (e.g., for website developers) to ensure their previous work is up to compliance standards before you hire them.
1. Awareness
Your business can’t become more accessible until you know where it currently stands.
2. Remediation
Once you know where the issues are you’ll then need to have them fixed.
How do I ensure my physical business location is accessible?
The best way is to have an Architectural Barrier Assessment performed by a qualified assessor. If you are in the Tri-Lakes area (Franklin and Essex counties) then you can contact the Tri-Lakes Center for Independent Living for a free assessment.
Accessible Adirondack Tourism personnel will also provide free architectural barrier assessments to businesses within the Adirondack region, including the 14 counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Oneida, Oswego, Warren, and Washington.
If you choose to have either Tri-Lakes Center for Independent Living or Accessible Adirondack Tourism provide your architectural barrier assessment, your business will receive a Certificate of Accessibility attesting to its structural compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and your business will automatically be listed within this website.
You can reach out to one of the independent living centers in your area as most will have a qualified professional to assist you.
How can I be sure my website is accessible?
First, test it yourself. Its not complicated to see if your website is accessible or not.
1. Go to the WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool (a tool developed by Utah State University).
2. Enter the web page address (www.YourSite.com) and click the arrow on the right of the search box.
3. Be sure to test each page of your website with the tool.
4. If your web page has any “Errors” or “Contrast Errors” then your website is not accessible. If your website has any “Alerts” then they need to be evaluated by a website developer skilled in accessibility techniques. Not all website developers know how to properly code a website for accessibility, so be aware and test their previous work with the above tool.
Note: The responsibility for having an accessible website is the business owners, not the website developer’s (even if they tell you your website will be accessible) so you really need to test their work.
Some Helpful Information
As part of our mission to educate businesses on accessibility requirements we are writing a series of articles on the subject that can help inspire and guide you.
TSA Cares
The Transportation Security Administration of the Department of Homeland Security provides screening assistance to pe...
IRS Tax Credit of Up to $5,000 Toward Location and Website Accessibility Costs
Did you know that the IRS will provide eligble small businesses with a tax credit of up to $5,000 to make their websi...
Are Businesses With Less Than 15 Employees Required to Have ADA Compliant Websites? Yes.
Title III of the ADA requires all non-exempt businesses that have publically facing physical locations, regardless of...
DIY Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, GoDaddy, Weebly, etc.) CANNOT Produce ADA Compliant Websites
You Can’t Fix What You Can’t Access. Independant testing is clear, DIY website builders cannot provide AD...
Lawsuits Rise Against Companies Using Overlay Solutions Like AccessiBe and UserWay
Widgets and overlays such as AccessiBe and UserWay mask, but do not fix the underlying accessibility issues, are harm...
The Business Case for Building a Handicap Accessible / ADA Compliant Website
Having an accessibile website can result in a competitive advantage as more disabled users come online every day. The...
Website Accessibility Lawsuits – A Dramatic Rise
Having an accessible website is not only good for the community but can help your business avoid accessibility law su...
Why You Should Care About Website Accessibility
So why should you care about website accessibility? Because leaving disabled people behind and denying them access to...
With Your Help, We're Making The Adirondacks More
Accessible for Everyone
Accessible Adirondack Tourism, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that is authorized to accept donations that are tax deductable to our donors.
We're not just a website. We're also an online and in person educational resource for businesses, organizations and municipalities within the Adirondack region to assist them in their goals of being more accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities.
We offer organizations assistance with learning about how to make their locations, websites and social media pages available to everyone and we need your generous support to continue our mission.