More lawsuits in the US, fallout from Domino’s and the challenges of having a global website. These together with a look at progress being made by UK and IE Universities towards complying with accessibility laws have caught our eye this week.

As usual 5 of the best articles we have seen are listed below with summaries and links to the full articles:

• GLOBAL | Accessibility-Related Laws & Regulations

  Each country can set their own laws for website accessibility. This needs to be considered when targeting your website at international audiences.

  ADA applies to both public and private sectors including websites. In terms of website accessibility, many points will improve overall user experiences not just for people with disabilities but for all website users. For many countries and regions, including Canada, China, the EU, Japan, and the U.K., accessibility of web content is often a mandatory policy.

  https://www.searchenginejournal.com/global-vs-local-websites/332347/

• US | Haro, as the lawyers are so hot on filing claims, consideration for their own site?

  Many are quick to say criticise and say they are proponents of accessibility for the visually impaired. We’ve taken a quick look at the website of one law firm.

  We have had a quick look at just the home page on their site, well if accessibility is an area they believe in – before throwing stones perhaps ensure you are within the regulations yourselves. Have a look at the firm’s site ‘front page’

  https://secure.sitemorse.com/reportkey.html?id=1468642401&key=06a93ba0&snapshot&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsteinsakslegal.com%2F

• US | Haro Bicycle faces class-action lawsuit over its website

  Lawsuits in the US continue, Haro may the first bicycle company to face such a lawsuit – it’s not just retailers and fast food outlets that need to beware.

  Haro Bicycle Corp. is one of thousands of companies dealing with lawsuits over their websites' compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The man, Valentin Reid, says Haro is violating the ADA because one of its websites, ridedelsol.com, is not accessible to the blind.

  https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2019/10/30/haro-bicycle-hit-class-action-website-ada-compliance-suit

• UK | How are UK and IE Universities progressing with website accessibility?

  UK & IE Universities may be interested to see how well their websites are complying with accessibility laws.

  Sitemorse published it’s Q4 INDEX for UK & IE Universities earlier this week. Only one university has scored 7 or above (out of 10) and 71% scored less that 5. Universities have until 22 September 2020 to make their websites compliant with the law – new websites needed to be complaint from 22 September 2019.

  Recent clarification from the Digital Cabinet Office is that all new content should be compliant needs to be complaint from 22 September 2019.

  https://sitemorse.com/blog-article/9578/q4-2019-index-universities-happening-accessibility/

• US | ADA Website Litigation Likely to Increase

  Maybe the Supreme Court’s decision on the Domino’s Pizza case has brought some clarity to the requirements of websites to be accessible to all.

  There has been considerable confusion amongst business owners as to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as it relates to websites.……recent court decisions have held that the ADA applies to the websites and mobile applications of businesses online.

  https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ada-website-litigation-likely-to-increase