ADA Title III
ADA Title III is the section of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 12181-12189) that prohibits disability discrimination by covered places of public accommodation; website application can depend on the business, facts, and jurisdiction.
Detailed explanation
Title III lists twelve categories of public accommodation, including restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and service establishments. DOJ guidance says the ADA applies to the goods and services that covered businesses offer on the web, while federal courts have used differing analyses for website-only and website-to-physical-place claims.
Cases including Robles v. Domino's Pizza and Gil v. Winn-Dixie illustrate different circuit approaches, but a short glossary cannot determine how precedent applies to a particular merchant, storefront, or claim.
Title III can be enforced through private litigation and Department of Justice action. Available remedies and any related state-law damages depend on the claimant, jurisdiction, statute, and facts.
How this applies to Shopify stores
A Shopify merchant serving US customers should make core shopping journeys accessible and obtain qualified advice about its legal obligations. AccessComply can provide scoped scan and remediation records when those workflows are used; those records do not establish ADA compliance or prevent a claim.
What merchants should check next
Treat this term as a practical audit prompt, not just a definition. Check the storefront pages where the concept shows up in real customer journeys: product discovery, add-to-cart, cart drawer, checkout handoff, account login, and support contact flows. If the issue affects code, verify the rendered HTML and computed browser output after the theme change. If it affects copy or media, keep the merchant-facing wording accurate and easy to maintain.
Primary source: ada.gov