Tina Corbett operates Lanza Gallery & Art Supplies in High Springs, a retirement job to keep her active. The business makes just enough to cover the overhead, and if there’s any extra, Corbett said she puts it back into the business.  

She often invites the public to her gallery for events, like for a showing of 26 paintings of Ireland earlier this year. 

Because of decades of working as an illustrator for the United States Postal Service, Corbett said she learned about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for physical locations. She’ll now walk through her store, between paints, paintbrushes and ready-for-purchase paintings, and think about whether a wheelchair could make it to every corner and all the wares.  

But Corbett had not heard of ADA compliance for websites until, on Monday, Mainstreet published an article about 49 businesses sued by Gainesville’s Makeda Evans for having websites that failed to properly interact with her screen-to-text device.  

“Nobody really knew about this,” Corbett said, after calling the article scary. 

Within 48 hours, Corbett searched Google to figure out how to make the Lanza Gallery & Art Supplies website ADA-compliant. She found an ADA compliance widget on the website-builder Wix, which she used to create the website, and installed it.  

Within 36 hours, the story became Mainstreet’s most-read article of 2025, driven largely by local shares on social media. Alachua County residents responded by filing complaints, offering help and reaching out to elected officials.  

Locals also asked if lawsuits were the best way forward, with Aaron Hall of the Center for Independent Living for North Central Florida leaning toward different recourses. 

Several people have reached out to U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack’s office regarding the lawsuits. Mainstreet also reached out to Cammack, but her office did not provide a comment.  

A local business owner named Brandi—Mainstreet agreed not to use her last name due to her fear of becoming a target for a suit—lodged an official complaint with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over the slate of lawsuits filed by Evans. 

According to Brandi, other businesses in town also filed complaints with the attorney general’s office. She said she reached out to the National Federation for Independent Businesses, where staff said the Florida branch would also contact state leaders.  

“It’s almost like an extortive kind of thing, if nobody’s reporting any of this and they’re just paying out all of these,” Brandi said. 

Grant Walker founded GNV.AI in 2023. The organization aims to shepherd technology to the benefit of the community by offering free website services through volunteers who use AI-coding processes. 

With all the ADA lawsuits, Walker found an opportunity to do just that. 

“My organization GNV.AI will donate free ADA compliance updates for local Gainesville websites,” said Walker in a comment on Mainstreet’s article from Monday.  

Walker told Mainstreet in an email that he’s since received around a dozen requests from business owners to help get their websites in ADA compliance shape. 

He said his organization first reviews a website’s accessibility issues using a free internet tool before making changes. 

“Often there is a simple fix or two that can be implemented,” he said. “If not, we can use AI to code updates to websites very quickly, often within minutes.” 

Aaron Hall has served on the board of directors at the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida since 2023. He works as a website developer and is also deaf. Hall emailed responses to questions about the recent lawsuits.   

Hall often uses technology similar to screen-to-text readers needed by people with visual impairments and pays careful attention to ADA compliance issues when building sites.  

The biggest problem for him isn’t searching the web, but accessing content once he finds it. Videos without accurate captions or transcripts, audio-heavy sites or complex text that’s hard to follow quickly are especially challenging.  

Hall said lawsuits can have an impact—but also a cost.  

“Litigation has driven some changes, but it’s not the best way—it’s costly for everyone and can strain community relationships,” Hall said. “I’d prefer more emphasis on education, free resources, and incentives for compliance.” 

When someone with disabilities encounters an issue navigating a website, Hall said it can be frustrating. For local business websites, he said he tries to find a workaround or contact the business directly.  

Awareness is growing, Hall said, because of lawsuits and recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice. But while lawsuits might make some businesses aware of ADA compliance, he said, a lot of small business owners may remain unaware. 

Hall said he’d support amending ADA laws to require pre-suit notices that give 30, 60 or 90 days to fix any issues.  

“Over 40+ ADA lawsuits with the same lawyer and plaintiff seems excessive and feels predatory, hurting local businesses—especially iconic ones like Satchel’s [Pizza],” Hall said. “Honestly, I think reaching out to businesses first to educate and help fix issues would be better. Lawsuits should be a last resort if they refuse to update and it’s causing real problems.”   

Hall also warned that a widget or even an IT team might not be enough. He said it’s a whole different world between building a website and using a screen reader 24/7 to navigate the web. The difference is like expecting a mechanic to understand HTML code, he said. 

Even though small businesses might not know how to find a real-life user to test their website, Hall said that’s the best method for ensuring other patrons with disabilities can also navigate the site. 

“Real-user testing is still the gold standard because automated tools miss a lot (like logical reading order, custom components, or overall usability),” Hall said.