The main disability law affecting businesses in Texas is the Americans with Disabilities Act. Congress passed it in 1990 to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, government services, transportation, and public accommodations. The law originally focused on physical access to buildings, but courts gradually applied the same idea to websites as businesses began offering services online. A restaurant taking online orders, a medical practice offering appointment scheduling, or a retailer selling products through a website can fall under ADA Title III if the site blocks people using assistive technology.
Website accessibility lawsuits usually rely on technical standards from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. These guidelines cover things like image descriptions, keyboard navigation, readable contrast levels, and properly labeled forms. Federal guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice states that businesses open to the public must provide equal access to services offered online. Texas also enforces building accessibility rules through the Texas Accessibility Standards, but most website lawsuits rely on the federal ADA rather than state statutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
If a business in Texas qualifies as a public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and offers services through a website, the site may be required to provide accessible access. Courts often examine whether the website connects to a physical location such as a store, medical office, restaurant, or hotel.
Texas enforces building accessibility through the Texas Accessibility Standards under the Texas Architectural Barriers Act. That statute focuses on physical construction and renovations. Website accessibility claims are usually filed under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act instead.
Most accessibility lawsuits reference the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines created by the World Wide Web Consortium. Courts and settlement agreements usually reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical benchmark for accessible websites.
According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, about 26 percent of U.S. adults live with some form of disability. With a population near 30 million, Texas has roughly 4.5 million residents with disabilities affecting vision, hearing, mobility, or cognition.
Industries with online scheduling or reservation systems appear often in ADA lawsuits. Medical offices, dentists, hotels, restaurants, and retail stores frequently face claims when appointment systems, menus, or booking platforms cannot be used with screen readers or keyboard navigation.
Typical accessibility barriers include images without alternative text, buttons with no labels, navigation that cannot be used with a keyboard, low color contrast, and PDF documents that screen readers cannot interpret.
Costs vary widely. A small business site with 20 pages might cost between $3,000 and $10,000 to remediate depending on complexity. Larger e-commerce systems may require full redevelopment and months of development work.
Federal ADA website cases usually seek injunctive relief rather than fines. Courts typically order businesses to fix accessibility barriers and pay the plaintiff’s legal fees. Most disputes settle before trial.
The U.S. Department of Justice enforces Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The department issued formal guidance in 2022 stating that businesses open to the public must provide equal access to services offered through websites.
Many accessibility improvements also help search engines interpret a website. Structured headings, descriptive links, and alt text improve how search crawlers understand page content. These changes sometimes lead to better search visibility as a side effect of accessibility work.
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