The envelope, or the email, comes from a law firm you have never heard of. It says your website discriminates against people with disabilities, lists problems a screen reader user ran into, mentions the Americans with Disabilities Act, and asks you to respond by a date that feels very close. Your first instinct is either to panic or to throw it away.
Neither helps. This post sets out what to do after an ADA demand letter, in a calm order, from the first hour to the months after. It also covers the moves that make things worse. Our work is websites, not law, so read this as practical guidance on the technical side and general information on the rest. It is not legal advice; the accessibility demand letter response itself is your lawyer’s job.
What is usually in the letter
Letters vary, but most contain the same parts. Knowing them helps you read yours without spiraling.
- Who is complaining and about what. A named person, often described as a screen reader user, and your business and web address.
- A list of barriers. Missing alt text, forms without labels, menus that need a mouse, uncaptioned video and so on, sometimes tied to WCAG success criteria, sometimes pasted from a scanner report.
- The legal basis. Usually Title III of the ADA, sometimes state law as well.
- A proposal. Typically some form of settlement terms and a commitment to fix the site.
- A deadline. A date to respond before the firm says it will take further action.
Do not try to judge whether the letter is fair or legitimate on your own. That is exactly what a lawyer is for. Your job in the first days is to protect your position and gather facts.
What to do after an ADA demand letter, step by step
- Do not ignore it. Write the response deadline on your calendar. A letter that sits in a drawer can turn into a lawsuit, and you lose time you could have used.
- Do not reply to the sender yourself. No call, no email, no “we are looking into it.” Anything you say can matter later, and a friendly reply can accidentally admit things.
- Call a lawyer. Ideally one who has handled disability access or ADA matters. Send them the full letter and any attachments. Ask your lawyer whether your business insurance policy is relevant and whether you should notify your insurer.
- Preserve the site as it is today. Back up the site’s files and database before anyone touches anything. Save copies of each page the letter names, with the date. Note the theme, page builder and plugins in use. If you are not sure how, the methods are in our WordPress backup walkthrough. Do not delete pages or take the site down without your lawyer’s say.
- Ask your lawyer how they want the technical work arranged. Some lawyers prefer to hire or direct the auditor themselves; others are happy for you to commission it. Ask before you sign anything with a developer.
- Get a real audit. Check the barriers named in the letter, and then the rest of your key pages and tasks, against WCAG 2.2 Level AA. That means automated scans plus hands-on keyboard testing and a screen reader check. The letter’s list is rarely complete, and fixing only what it names leaves the rest in place.
- Fix in priority order. Barriers that block a task (booking, contact, checkout, menu access) first. Then site-wide issues in the theme and plugins. Then content: images, headings, link text, PDFs, video.
- Retest and document. For each issue: where it was, which criterion, what changed, when, and how it was retested. Your lawyer will decide what to share and how.
- Keep it going. Set up regular checks so updates and new content do not bring problems back. A site that was fixed once and then drifted helps nobody.
Knowing what to do after an ADA demand letter is mostly about sequence. Steps three to five can feel slow when you want to act. They are worth it. The technical work will be the same either way, but how it is arranged and recorded is a legal choice.
What not to do
Install a widget and reply that the site is fixed
It is tempting: a sales email arrives the same week promising that one line of script settles everything, someone installs it, and a reply goes out saying the problem is solved. The menu still needs a mouse and the form fields still have no labels, because a script loaded on top leaves the site’s own code as it was. Owners who went this route have still faced claims. Our post on how overlay toolbars work and where they fail explains more.
Start editing before you take a snapshot
Well-meaning staff sometimes begin “cleaning up” pages the same afternoon. Without a backup and dated copies first, nobody can show later what the site looked like when the letter arrived, or what was changed.
Buy a certificate or badge
There is no official certification of ADA compliance for business websites. A badge from a scanning service does not answer the barriers in the letter.
Argue in public
Posting about the letter on social media, or contacting the person named in it, can create new problems. Leave all communication to your lawyer.
Questions to bring to the first call with your lawyer
Lawyers bill for time, and a first call goes better when you arrive with the facts in order and a short list of questions. You do not need legal vocabulary. Plain questions work:
- Who should hire the accessibility tester: you, or the law office?
- Can technical fixes start now, or should anything wait?
- Should my insurer hear about this, and by when?
- What, if anything, may I say to staff, to customers, or to the person named in the letter?
- Which written records do you want from the web side, and in what form?
Bring the letter, the date it arrived, the name of whoever built and maintains the site, and a rough idea of what the site does (bookings, online orders, a patient intake form). That is usually enough for a useful first conversation.
Keeping your own file while this runs
Weeks from now, someone will ask when the backup was taken or what the developer changed in March. Memory is a poor answer. Start one folder, paper or digital, on the day the letter lands, and put everything in it:
- The letter, the envelope or email header, and the date you received it.
- Where the backup and the dated page copies are stored, and who made them.
- Notes from every call: who, when, what was agreed.
- The audit, once you have it, and each update on fixes and retests.
- Emails with vendors whose tools sit on your site, such as a booking or payment service, asking what they plan to change.
Your developer’s records should tie each barrier to a WCAG criterion, the change made and the retest date. Your own file ties those records to the timeline of the matter. Your lawyer decides what, if anything, gets shared.
Producing that technical record is what our page on technical fixes after an ADA demand letter is built around: audit, fix, document, while your lawyer handles the legal side. For the fixing itself, the accessibility remediation process page shows how code, theme, plugin and content work is retested.
For audits, fixes and monitoring in one place, see our accessibility services for US businesses. If you want to understand why letters like this get sent in the first place, read how website accessibility claims usually arise. For the bigger picture of which law reaches which kind of organization, our overview of what the ADA expects from websites is the place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Should I respond to an ADA demand letter myself?
No. Send it to a lawyer before anyone replies. What you say in a reply can matter later, and a lawyer can judge the claim, handle communication with the sending firm, and advise on deadlines. Your part is to preserve the site and gather the technical facts the lawyer asks for.
Should I tell my insurance company about the letter?
Ask your lawyer, and do it early. Some business insurance policies may be relevant to claims like this, and policies often set rules about when and how you must give notice. Bring a copy of your policy to the first call so your lawyer can look at it with the letter.
What if the letter names barriers I cannot find on my site?
Note it and tell your lawyer rather than arguing the point with the sender. Some items come from scanner output and may be false alarms, while others only show up with a screen reader or on a phone. An independent tester can try to reproduce each item and record what they find.
Will an accessibility widget satisfy the letter?
Do not count on it. An overlay sits on top of the site and does not repair its code, forms or content. Sites using overlays have still received claims, and in 2025 the FTC took enforcement action against an overlay vendor about its marketing. Real fixes to the site are what remove barriers.
We handle the technical side: auditing against WCAG 2.2 AA, fixing what fails, and keeping a clear record for you and your lawyer. Our page on ADA website compliance for businesses explains how we work.
Next in this series: ADA Title III Website Accessibility: Who It Covers
