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- š§ Accessibility Violations: The Lawsuit Youāll Never See Coming
š§ Accessibility Violations: The Lawsuit Youāll Never See Coming
Accessibility mistakes are more common and costly than you think.
Kody Nordquist
April 29, 2025
Welcome back to the 98th edition of Nord Media
Business is booming.
Sales are rolling in.
Youāre already daydreaming about early retirement...
Then bam. A lawsuit notice hits your inbox.
Your website isnāt accessible to all users, and now youāre being sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Ignoring accessibility leaves you very vulnerable to lawsuits.
But even beyond that, it cuts off a huge segment of potential customers. People who want to engage with your brand but physically canāt.
Today, weāre breaking down exactly what you need to know to protect your brand and how to make accessibility a strength, not a liability.
Letās dive in.
šØ Why Accessibility Overlays Fail (And Could Put Your Brand at Risk)
Accessibility overlays are just scripts that sit on top of your website. They donāt actually fix the underlying code violations that lead to lawsuits.
Hereās the breakdown:
ā They donāt make your store fully ADA compliant.
ā They only catch surface-level issues.
ā They donāt solve critical accessibility problems like keyboard navigation or screen reader compatibility.
ā They can actually make your site harder to use for disabled customers.
Thatās why Patrol takes a different approachāone that actually protects your brand.
ā Meet Patrol: The AI-Powered ADA Compliance Solution for Shopify
Patrol is NOT another overlay widget. Instead, it fixes violations at the code levelāmeaning your store actually becomes more accessible.
Patrol automates what used to be a manual, expensive process of ADA compliance. Using research out of MIT and the latest AI advancements, Patrol detects accessibility issues that traditional overlays miss and fixes them properly.
What makes Patrol different?
š Automates manual audits, user-testing, and custom software fixes
š”ļø Better protects & reduces the odds of a Digital ADA lawsuits or demand letter
š Provides clear compliance reports, so you know exactly where you stand
š Helps improve conversions by making your store more accessible to all customers
Get Started Today and save 20% off your first 12 months or email their founder Sam directly [email protected] (heās incredible to work with) and mention you heard about Patrol through Nord Media
Accessibility Is a Legal (and Moral) Must-Have
If your store isnāt accessible to users with disabilities, youāre painting a giant legal target on your back.
Some of the fastest ways to get sued:
Product images with no alt text
Text so faint even hawk-eyed shoppers squint
Checkout forms that only work with a mouse
Videos that leave deaf users guessing
Pop-ups that trap people like a bad escape room
Making your site accessible from the start saves you money, protects your brand, and future-proofs your store as legal standards tighten.
How to Find Accessibility Issues Before They Cost You
The faster you catch accessibility problems, the cheaper and easier they are to fix.
Automated auditing tools help you stay ahead by flagging violations that otherwise slip through the cracks.
Tools that should be part of your stack:
WAVE: Surface-level scans to catch missing labels, alt text, and poor contrast
Axe DevTools: Deeper technical audits for developers and advanced users
Google Lighthouse: Fast, free accessibility scoring directly from Chrome
Automation gives you speed, but itās not foolproof.
Manual testing is just as important, especially for critical flows like:
Site navigation using only a keyboard
Checkout processes for screen reader users
Mobile browsing for customers with motor impairments
Best practice:
Run automated scans monthly, manually test core buying flows quarterly, and fix high-impact issues first (especially anything blocking checkout or major navigation paths).
Accessibility will be an ongoing part of responsible website maintenance, just like security updates or SEO tuning.
Feed management SHOULD BE FREE! Stop paying for it.
If you run catalog ads, then you understand the sad reality of paying for a feed management platform (FMP).
FMPās are basically glorified spreadsheets, but you need them for basic things like:
-Connecting your shop to Meta
-Organizing your product data (for ad platforms)
-Keeping your inventory up to date
Itās basically a data translator that charges monthly rent.
But that ends today. The team at Marpipe just broke all the rules.
Marpipe is making basic feed management free with the release of their new, free Shopify integration.
The era of FREE feed management has arrived. I have no idea how their investors are letting them get away with this.
Check out the free app here.
Accessibility is a Competitive Advantage
Addressing accessibility proactively strengthens your brand and opens new growth channels.
Roughly 16% of the global population lives with some form of disability.
Thatās not a niche audience. Itās millions of potential customers that most brands fail to serve properly.
Making your site accessible unlocks benefits like:
A broader customer base, including aging populations and users with temporary impairments
Higher SEO performance due to cleaner, better-structured site architecture
Improved user experience that reduces friction for all customers, not just disabled users
Increased customer loyalty and referrals by being seen as an inclusive, trustworthy brand
Future-proofing as digital accessibility laws tighten globally
Investing in accessibility today is cheaper, smarter, and far less painful than reacting after a lawsuit, and it builds a brand that can scale without hidden weaknesses.
Closing Thoughts
Accessibility issues quietly block real customers from buying, engaging, and becoming loyal to your brand.
Fixing them removes friction from your store so more people can say āyesā without getting stuck.
It shows that you take your responsibility as a business owner seriously, before someone else forces your hand.
Audit your store. Tighten up the weak points. Build a brand that's open to everyone from day one, not after you're backed into a corner.
Want growth that looks like thisš?
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HOW??
We Use Strategies and Systems that Produce Consistent Results.
Weāve helped 100+ brandsāfrom early-stage DTC startups to global brandsāscale smarter, grow faster and get profitable. Whether your goal rapid growth, consistency at scale or just to be profitable again, we've built systems and strategies to achieve that for hundreds of brands over the years.
The results? You get reliable and consistent growth without sacrificing your profitability.
Ā» Hire me to scale your DTC Brand Ā«