MJBiz - July 2023 - 27

" It is important to ensure that a
company's website is accessible now
and remains accessible going forward, "
Hartsel said.
If a company is sued for noncompliance,
it's faced with the choice
between hiring an attorney to defend
it or settling the case quickly at a cost
of $7,500-$20,000, said Scott Piper, an
attorney with the Harris Beach law firm
in New York.
" A handful of firms, especially in New
York state, will file 20 or 30 complaints
at a time in the Southern and Eastern
districts in New York, which are
favorable for these kinds of cases, " said
Piper, a labor and employment attorney.
" Typically, they don't have much interest
in taking it to the mat. They file for a
quick settlement. "
Piper said ensuring your website is
accessible to people with disabilities
is important for two reasons: to reach
the most people you can and to avoid
litigation.
" From a business perspective, you
want to make sure the maximum
number of people can reach your
website. You want more consumers,
and you don't want the reputation of
not being consumer-friendly, " Piper
said. " You also don't want to get sued.
Most business insurance does not
cover lawsuits for this type of issue.
Most of the time, it's the business
paying out of pocket. "
While it's rare for the federal
government to file a complaint for a
noncompliant website, if it does bring
some type of enforcement action
against a company, regulators can seek
civil damages of $5,000 for the first
offense and $110,000 for the second
offense, said Mukunda Shanbhag,
an attorney with Bianchi & Brandt in
Scottsdale, Arizona.
" Regulators are taking the issue
of website access more seriously, "
Shanbhag said. " It's being seen more
as an issue of access, like walking into a
store. You get most of your information
online now. "
Becoming Compliant
Ensuring the website is accessible to
all users, regardless of their abilities,
requires understanding the needs
of people with disabilities-as well
as the technologies and techniques
that can be used to make a website
accessible-said Ben Stewart, director
of web and SEO at PufCreativ, a
marketing and brand-development
agency in Denver focused on the
cannabis industry.
" This is especially important within
the cannabis industry, where many
individuals rely on cannabis for its
medical benefits, " Stewart said. " Many
... are disabled and require an ADAcompliant
website to learn about and
purchase medical marijuana. "
Web accessibility means that
websites, tools and technologies
are designed to be accessible to
people with disabilities, according
to the World Wide Web Consortium,
an international community that
develops standards to ensure the
long-term growth of the web. Websites
should be accessible to people with
any disability, including auditory,
cognitive, neurological, physical,
speech and visual.
The checklist to creating an
accessible website is long, said Pete
Foytho, creative director and founder
of Burlington, Vermont-based Clutch
Creative Co.
" You have to make sure there are
alternative ways to receive information, "
Foytho said. " If there are a lot of images,
make sure they have alt tags so people
can use a screen reader. If it's a video,
make sure there's another way to access
that information for people who are
hearing- or vision-impaired. "
Issues web designers must solve
include poor color contrast, which
can make it difficult for people with
limited vision or color blindness to
read, and putting captions on videos
so that hearing-impaired people can
understand what is happening.
It's also important to include text
alternatives (alt text) on images so that
people who are blind can understand
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MJBiz - July 2023

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