Why Your Online Forms Could Be Your Biggest ADA Compliance Risk
Most businesses spend hours perfecting their website's homepage but only seconds reviewing their contact form, checkout page, or job application portal. That's a problem. Online forms are one of the most common places where users with disabilities encounter barriers and they're a frequent source of ADA Title III complaints and demand letters.
If your site collects information of any kind, the form is doing more than capturing data. It's a meaningful source of compliance risk. The full picture of what ADA requires for digital forms is covered in this detailed guide on accessible online forms, but the essentials are worth knowing right now.
What Makes an Online Form Accessible
An accessible form works seamlessly with screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice input - not just for visual users with a mouse. People who rely on assistive technologies should be able to identify each field, understand what's required, fix mistakes, and submit the form independently.
When that doesn't happen, the form fails ADA compliance and increasingly, courts have made clear that "we didn't realize" is not a defense.
Five Form Failures We See in Nearly Every Audit
Across the audits conducted by the Accessibility Innovations team, the same problems show up again and again:
Labels hidden in placeholders. Placeholder text vanishes the moment a user starts typing, leaving screen reader users with no field context.
Tab order that jumps around. Users navigating with a keyboard expect to move logically through fields. Custom layouts often break that flow.
Errors shown only in red. Color alone is not an accessible signal. Errors must be programmatically linked to fields and announced to screen readers.
Required fields with no clear indication. An asterisk alone doesn't convey "required" to assistive technology unless properly marked up.
Inaccessible custom widgets. Date pickers, dropdowns, and multi-step forms built without ARIA support often trap keyboard users entirely.
Each of these is fixable but only if you know to look.
The WCAG Criteria That Apply to Forms
The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't include a digital checklist, but courts and regulators consistently reference WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard. For forms specifically, four success criteria matter most:
1.3.1 Info and Relationships: labels and fields must be programmatically connected
2.1.1 Keyboard: every function must work without a mouse
3.3.1 Error Identification: errors must be identified in text and linked to the relevant field
3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: every input that requires user action must have clear instructions
Meeting these four alone won't make your form fully accessible, but failing them virtually guarantees compliance issues.
How to Audit Your Forms in Under 30 Minutes
Try this quick self-test before calling in specialists:
Unplug your mouse and complete the form using only the Tab and Enter keys
Submit the form with a deliberately invalid email: does the error message describe what to fix?
Inspect each input element: does it have a properly associated ?
Run an automated scan with Axe, WAVE, or Lighthouse and review the form-specific findings
If anything fails or feels confusing, your users with disabilities are probably hitting the same wall.
Don't Wait for a Demand Letter
ADA Title III lawsuits over inaccessible websites continue to climb, with many targeting small and mid-sized businesses - not just enterprises. Building accessibility into your forms protects users, reduces legal exposure, and improves usability for everyone, not only those using assistive technology. Don't wait for a demand letter to find out your forms aren't compliant - start with a quick keyboard test today.