ADA Compliance and the April 24 Deadline

You may be reading this post because your institution needs to make some quick adjustments in ADA compliance. If so, you are not alone.

ADA compliance has been best practice online for many years, but in 2024, the Department of Justice created a deadline for federal, state, and local government websites to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. The deadline changes compliance from a sometimes lofty ideal to a necessity for state universities, community colleges, and, to a large extent, private institutions that accept government funds.

Before diving into compliance specifics, let’s acknowledge that making websites and education accessible aligns directly with higher education’s mission. Educators want everyone to participate equitably in the education process. Despite this commitment, many institutions have struggled to prioritize the work to reach that goal. The compliance deadline provides the push many institutions need to take action.

What needs to be accessible?

Accessibility issues extend beyond your public website to include your learning management system, student-facing tools like registration portals, and internal faculty and staff resources.

Now that you know the scale of the situation, let’s break down what compliance means, how it benefits everyone, and how to approach it practically.

Components of WCAG 2.1 Compliance

Getting your institution ready for the April 24, 2026 deadline involves making sure your online materials meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards in many areas, including the following:

• Provide accurate captions for audio and video content (not automatically generated in most cases)
• Design web pages and documents compatible with screen readers, including elements like high contrast colors for the visually impaired
• Include alternative text descriptions for all images
• Ensure that PDFs support keyboard navigation and screen reader use
• Code visual information to preserve meaning for screen reader users

It can feel like a lot to sort through when you read any list of ADA compliance standards, and the list above is just a starting point. A full explanation of the requirements can be found on the World Wide Web Consortium website.

Adding Value for All

The heart of the issue is ensuring there is more than one way to access information on a website or document. If you are sharing a visual representation of information (a form, for example), can a colorblind person understand the document as well as someone who is not colorblind? Can someone with a screen reader navigate the document as easily as someone who is using sight to interpret it? Are there images in the file that add meaning to the document but aren’t explained for screen reader use?

Adding these accessible elements to existing content will be a win for your entire audience. Accurate captions on videos will enable students to complete coursework in noisy environments, for example. Logical keyboard navigation in forms will make submitting paperwork and assignments more user-friendly for almost everyone. Being able to interpret information with additional layers of information will naturally reduce confusion around whatever you share.

So how do you move from understanding these requirements to implementing them?

The list of compliance requirements is long, so prioritizing what needs to change will be important for your compliance effort. You could start with any of these as first steps:

• Train faculty and staff to understand how to build compliant sites, pages, and documents moving forward.
• Pick a more focused training option, like creating compliant PDFs.
• Ask instructors to use a specific tool or checklist to verify that the courses they teach each semester are compliant.
• Get departments to focus on updating high-priority pages and forms first. Start by asking each department or instructor to identify top priority resources they work with regularly.

The compliance deadline may feel daunting, but every step toward accessibility makes your institution more welcoming for all. Reach out to Magellan if you would like support creating or implementing your compliance strategy.