Is Your Therapist Website ADA Compliant? An Interview with Anita Avedian, LMFT

Curt and Katie interview Anita Avedian, LMFT about her recent experiences related to an ADA complaint on her website. Anita shares with us how she has navigated this lawsuit and what she’s learned about ADA Compliance for websites. We also talk about the predatory lawsuits on small businesses in California and the benefits of becoming ADA compliant for therapists.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode, we look at what therapists should know about ADA compliant websites

Our friend, Anita Avedian, LMFT, just went through a legal complaint related to her website. It was found to not be ADA compliant, meaning that she had to pay some fines and update her website. She wanted to share what she learned, so we thought – let’s bring this conversation to the podcast! 

What is needed for a website to be ADA compliant?

·      Images have to have alt text

·      Videos have to have closed captioned at 95% accurate

·      Videos need both closed captions and transcripts

·      Contrast colors need to be far enough apart for visibility

·      Appropriate font sizes

·      Buttons and navigation system have to be ADA compliant

·      You cannot have PDFs on your website, you must have documents

·      When you are cited, you have to make corrections and keep it up

What goes into an ADA compliance lawsuit against a website (including therapist websites)?

·      There are predatory lawyers who are seeking out noncompliance to open lawsuits with small businesses

·      There are thousands of lawsuits

·      Your liability insurance doesn’t cover these claims because it is considered discriminatory

·      Oftentimes you don’t know that you’re being sued

·      There is not an opportunity to make corrections, you are fined and must make corrections immediately

·      There is usually oversight and monitoring for 5 years

How can therapists make their websites more accessible?

·      Accurate transcripts and closed captioning for videos

·      Making sure that you are at least 95% compliant by doing a free scan

·      Using some of the resources listed in the show notes on our website at mtsgpodcast.com (in the resources section)

·      Having a deep scan to identify how close you are to compliance

·      Making sure that your web developers know how to make your website ADA compliant

·      There are attorneys to help with this process and can provide training on how to make a website ADA compliant

·      Side benefits of improved SEO and Google standing

·      There isn’t currently a widget to make your website ADA compliant and website themes and templates do not have these requirements built in structurally

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Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/