A website everyone can actually use
Accessibility means a person using a screen reader, a keyboard, a zoomed-in phone or a shaky hand can read your pages, fill in your forms and call you. It is also what an ADA demand letter is about. Every Minuswires build is accessible by default, we fix existing sites that are not, and we do not install overlay widgets that pretend to.
Most small-business websites fail the basics
Not out of bad intent. Templates, page builders and years of edits by different people leave sites that cannot be used without a mouse, that read as a wall of 'image' to a screen reader, and that put grey text on a light grey background. The CDC puts the share of American adults living with a disability at roughly one in four, so this is a real share of your customers, and it is what the demand letters are built on.
- Images with no text description, so a screen reader announces 'image' and moves on
- Forms you cannot fill in, or even reach, with a keyboard alone
- Colour contrast so low that text disappears in sunlight or to a colour-blind reader
- Buttons and links labelled 'click here' or 'read more' with nothing to say where they go
- Video with no captions and PDFs that are just pictures of text
- An overlay widget in the corner that promises compliance and delivers a lawsuit anyway
What we do
Accessibility is a property of the code and the content, not a plugin. That is why the work looks like this.
Audit against WCAG 2.1 AA
A page-by-page review with automated checks first and a person second, because automated tools catch roughly a third of the problems. You get a plain-English list of what fails, why it matters to a real user, and what it takes to fix.
Remediation of your existing site
Fixing the site you have: text descriptions on images, keyboard navigation, focus states, contrast, form labels, headings in the right order, captions and readable PDFs. Priced from the audit so you know the number before we touch anything.
Accessible-by-default rebuilds
When the underlying code is the problem, patching it costs more than replacing it. Every site we build starts from accessible components and is checked before launch, so the rebuild is the fix.
Plain-language demand-letter walkthrough
If you have received a letter, we will explain what the technical claims in it mean and check them against your site. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice; we will tell you when you need one.
An accessibility statement and a way to report problems
A public statement of what standard the site meets, what is still being worked on, and a contact route for anyone who hits a barrier. It is honest, it is expected, and it is what a court or a customer looks for first.
Keeping it that way
New pages, new photos and new staff undo accessibility a little at a time. Care plans include periodic re-checks, and every page we add is checked before it goes live.
The questions people actually arrive with
What does WCAG 2.1 AA mean in plain words?
WCAG is the international standard for accessible websites. 2.1 is the version. AA is the level almost every law and regulator points to. In practice it says: everything can be seen or heard, everything can be operated by keyboard, everything can be understood, and it works with assistive technology. Fifty-odd specific checks sit under those four ideas.
I got an ADA demand letter. What is it?
Usually a letter from a law firm saying your site has barriers that break the Americans with Disabilities Act, listing some technical findings and proposing a settlement. Some are serious, some are templated and sent by the hundred. Do not ignore it and do not fix the site in a panic before talking to a lawyer; what you change can matter. We can read the technical claims with you. This is not legal advice.
Should we remediate or rebuild?
Remediate when the site is well built and mostly needs content and detail fixes. Rebuild when the template or builder itself is the barrier, which is common. The rebuild often costs about the same as a deep remediation, and you get a faster, newer site out of it. The audit tells you which you are in; rebuilds run $1,500 to $3,500.
Why not just add an overlay widget?
Because they do not work. Overlay widgets add a floating icon that promises compliance without changing the underlying code. Screen-reader users widely report they make sites harder to use, hundreds of accessibility practitioners have signed a public statement against them, and sites running an overlay still get sued. We will not install one, and we will remove one if you have it.
How it works
Start with a free first look. It will not catch everything, and we say so, but it is enough to know whether you have a small problem or a big one.
Free first look
Send us the address. We run the automated accessibility checks (the kind that catch missing image descriptions, contrast failures and unlabelled forms) and tell you what they found, free. It is a starting point, not a certificate; automated tools miss most of what a person finds. Our free website health check covers the basics of speed, mobile and contact, not accessibility.
Manual audit
A person goes through the site with a keyboard only, with a screen reader, zoomed to 200 percent and with colour vision filters. Every failure is written down in plain English with the WCAG check it belongs to.
Decide: fix or rebuild
We tell you which is cheaper and which is better, and they are not always the same. Either way you get a fixed quote against the audit.
Do the work
Remediation is done page by page and re-tested. A rebuild starts from accessible components and is tested before launch the same way the audit was run.
Publish a statement and keep checking
An accessibility statement goes live with a contact route. New pages are checked as they are added. If you are on a care plan, the site is re-checked periodically.
What it costs
The first look is free. Audits and remediation are quoted from the size of the site and the number of failures. Rebuilds are priced like any other build, $1,500 to $3,500, because accessibility is included rather than added.
- Free first look: send the address, get the automated findings back in plain English, no obligation
- Manual audit quoted per site; small sites take a few days, larger ones a week or two
- Remediation quoted from the audit, fixed before work starts
- Rebuilds at $1,500 (Business) or $3,500 (Growth) include accessibility as standard; there is no accessibility surcharge on a new build
- Care plans include periodic re-checks so the site does not drift back
- No overlay widgets, no compliance certificates for sale, no guarantees against being sued; nobody can honestly offer those
Questions about accessibility
- Is my business legally required to have an accessible website?
- In practice, most businesses that serve the public are treated that way. Courts have applied the Americans with Disabilities Act to websites, and New Jersey and New York have their own anti-discrimination laws that plaintiffs use as well. Whether a specific business is covered, and what exactly it must do, is a legal question, and we are not lawyers. What we can say is that WCAG 2.1 AA is the standard settlements and regulators keep pointing to, so meeting it is the practical target.
- How many businesses actually get sued over this?
- Enough that it is not a hypothetical. Accessibility consultant Kris Rivenburgh, writing at accessible.org in November 2025, reported a 37 percent rise in ADA website lawsuit filings in the first half of 2025 and projected more than 5,500 filings in 2026, with New York, Florida and California accounting for over 74 percent of them and New Jersey among the states where filings are spreading. We have not seen a reliable New Jersey-only count and will not invent one. The source is linked at the bottom of this page.
- What is in an ADA website demand letter?
- Typically: a statement that a named person with a disability could not use your site, a list of technical barriers (often generated by an automated scan), a claim under the ADA and sometimes state law, and a demand for a settlement plus a commitment to fix the site. Some letters are precise; many are templated. Talk to a lawyer before responding or making changes. We can check the technical claims against your site and tell you which are real. That is a technical opinion, not legal advice.
- Will an accessibility overlay or widget protect us?
- No. Overlays sit on top of the page and try to patch it in the browser; they do not fix the underlying code, screen-reader users widely report they get in the way, and businesses running them have still been sued. At least one overlay vendor has faced U.S. Federal Trade Commission action over its compliance claims. We do not install them, and we will remove one if it is on your site.
- Are Minuswires websites accessible by default?
- Yes. Every site we build starts from components that work with a keyboard and a screen reader, uses colour contrast that passes AA, labels every form field and image, and is checked before launch. It is part of how we build, not an extra line on the quote. That does not make a site perfect forever; content added later has to follow the same rules, which is why we check new pages and re-check on care plans.
- How much does it cost to make an existing site accessible?
- It depends on what the audit finds. Content-level fixes on a well-built site are a small job. A site on a page builder with structural problems usually costs about as much to remediate as to rebuild, and the rebuild is the better buy: $1,500 for a Business site or $3,500 for a Growth site, with accessibility included. The free first look and the audit come first, so you get the number before deciding.
Still deciding? Book a free 20-minute call and we will tell you honestly whether this is the right spend for where you are.
Related services
Website Health Check
A free sixty-second self-check of the basics: mobile, speed, contact and trust. Not an accessibility scan, but a fair place to start.
Read more about Website Health CheckWebsite Redesign & Migration
When the builder is the barrier, a rebuild that keeps your rankings is the fix.
Read more about Website Redesign & MigrationUI & UX Design
Clear navigation, sensible forms and readable pages, which is most of accessibility anyway.
Read more about UI & UX DesignFind out where you stand
Send us the site and any letter you have received. You will get a plain-English read of what is wrong and what it would take to fix, and an honest answer on whether to repair or rebuild.
Sources. Lawsuit figures (37% rise in first-half 2025 filings; 5,500+ projected for 2026; New York, Florida and California over 74% of filings; New Jersey among the states where filings are spreading): Kris Rivenburgh, “2026 ADA Website Compliance Predictions: More Lawsuits, AI Has Big Impact”, accessible.org, 28 November 2025. Disability prevalence (roughly one in four U.S. adults): U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disability and Health data. This page is a technical explanation, not legal advice.