Improving Access to Commercial Websites Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

• Author: Courtney L. Burks
• Position: J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2014; B.A., Vassar College, 2008
• Pages: 363-392

Improving Access to Commercial Websites

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act

and the Twenty-First Century

Communications and Video

Accessibility Act

Courtney L. Burks∗

ABSTRACT: In 1990, Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities

Act (“ADA”)—one of the most comprehensive sets of antidiscrimination

laws to date. Title III of the ADA requires private businesses to make

reasonable efforts to ensure that disabled individuals are able to access their

“place[s] of public accommodation.” However, as the Internet has grown

more ubiquitous in Americans’ lives, scholars have debated whether a

commercial website constitutes a place of public accommodation under Title

III. Twenty years after Congress enacted the ADA, Congress passed the

Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

(“CVAA”) to help ensure that the disabled community is not left behind as

the nation’s dependence on web-based technology increases. This Note

examines conflicting interpretations of Title III, and how the CVAA may

affect the ADA’s application to commercial websites. This Note concludes by

arguing that a broad definition of “place of public accommodation” is

consistent with the history and purpose of the ADA, and because the CVAA

does not go far enough inits effort to improve Internet accessibility for the

disabled population, federal regulations imposing uniform technical

accessibility standards are needed in order to diminish the accessibility

barriers to websites that fall within the scope of Title III.

∗J.D. Candidate, The University of Iowa College of Law, 2014; B.A., Vassar College,

2008. Thank you to my parents and my sister for their continued support, and the members of

the Iowa Law Reviewfor their excellent work on this Note.

363

364IOWA LAW REVIEW[Vol. 99:363

I.INTRODUCTION....................................................................................365

II.BACKGROUND OF THE ADAAND THE CVAA........................................369

A.THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE PRECURSORS TO THE

ADA..............................................................................................370

B.THE ADAAND COMMERCIAL WEBSITES............................................371

1.“Place of Public Accommodation” Under Title III of the

ADA.......................................................................................372

2.Relevant Case Law: Three Interpretations of Title III of

the ADA.................................................................................375

3.Policy Concerns Underlying a Broad Application of

Title III to Commercial Websites.........................................379

C.THE CVAA....................................................................................382

1.The FCC’s Regulations on Internet Accessibility for the

Hearing Impaired................................................................383

2.The FCC’s Regulations on Internet Accessibility for the

Visually Impaired................................................................. 384

3.The “Economically Burdensome” Standard and Failure

to Comply with Regulations.................................................384

III.COMMERCIAL WEBSITES ARE A “PLACE OF PUBLIC

ACCOMMODATION”UNDER TITLE III...................................................385

A.THE REASONABLE TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF TITLE III...........................385

B.THE “ECONOMICALLY BURDENSOME”AND “UNDUE BURDEN”

LIMITATIONS.................................................................................386

C.THE HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF THE ADASUPPORT A BROAD

INTERPRETATION OF TITLE III.........................................................387

IV.THE CVAADOES NOT CARVE OUT AN EXCEPTION TO THE ADA.........387

V.FEDERAL REGULATIONS ARE REQUIRED TO IMPROVE WEBSITE

ACCESSIBILITY......................................................................................389

A.THE NEED FOR FEDERALREGULATIONS............................................389

B.TECHNICAL ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR WEBSITES THAT FALL

UNDER TITLE III............................................................................390

VI.CONCLUSION.......................................................................................392