Accessibility Standards, Laws, Regulations, and Policy
The legal stack (U.S.)
- ADA (1990) - Title I employment, Title II state and local government, Title III public accommodations and commercial facilities, Title IV telecommunications relay, Title V miscellany. The ADA Amendments Act (2008) intentionally broadened what counts as disability.
- Rehabilitation Act §504 (programs receiving federal funds) and §508 (federal agencies' ICT and, through contract clauses, their vendors). The 2017 Section 508 refresh (effective 2018) incorporates WCAG 2.0 Level AA by reference.
- Section 255 of the Communications Act, the Air Carrier Access Act, the Fair Housing Act, and IDEA cover other sectors.
Standards, not statutes
WCAG is a technical standard from the W3C, not a law. Laws incorporate it - e.g., the 2024 ADA Title II rule requiring state and local governments to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, with compliance dates in 2026 for larger entities and 2027 for smaller ones. In Europe, EN 301 549 is the harmonised standard, and the European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025. The UN CRPD frames accessibility as a human right.
Defenses and doctrines
Know undue burden, fundamental alteration, direct threat, effective communication, and equally effective alternate access. These are narrow; "it costs money" alone rarely qualifies.
Traps: "WCAG is law"; "Section 508 applies only to websites" (it covers all ICT); "AAA conformance is required" (AA is the near-universal benchmark); "the building is grandfathered forever" (no blanket exemption, though safe-harbor provisions exist for elements already compliant with older standards).
Worked example
A vendor sells software to a federal agency. Section 508 flows down via the contract: the agency must procure accessible ICT, so the vendor should supply an ACR (VPAT) and a plan to close gaps. The same product sold to a private retailer may fall under ADA Title III as a public accommodation.