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 ena cted the Americans with Disa bilities

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

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

reasonable efforts to ensure that disabled individuals are able to a ccess their

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

more ubiquitous in Americans’ l ives, scholars have debated wh ether a

commercial website constitutes a p lace of public accommodation under Titl e

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

Twenty-First Century Communicatio ns and Video Accessibility Act

(“CVAA”) to help ensure that th e disabled community is not l eft behind as

the nation’s dependence on web-b ased technology increases. Thi s Note

examines conflicting interpretatio ns of Title III, and how the CVAA may

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

arguing that a broad definition of “ place of public accommoda tion” is

consistent with the history and purpos e of the ADA, and because the CVAA

does not go far enough in its effort to improve Inte rnet accessibility for the

disabled population, federal regula tions imposing uniform technica l

accessibility standards are ne eded in order to diminish the acc essibility

barriers to websites that fall within the sc ope 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 Review for their excellent work on this Note.

363

364 IOWA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 99:363

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

II. BACKGROUND OF THE ADA AND THE CVAA ........................................ 369

A. THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE PRECURSORS TO THE

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

B. THE ADA AND 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” Standa rd 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 ADA SUPPORT A BROAD

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

IV. THE CVAA DOES NOT CARVE OUT AN EXCEPTION TO THE ADA ......... 387

V. FEDERAL REGULATIONS ARE REQUIRED TO IMPROVE WEBSITE

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

A. THE NEED FOR FEDERAL REGULATIONS ............................................ 389

B. TECHNICAL ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR WEBSITES THAT FALL

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

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