New requirements for digital accessibility are coming – are you prepared?
February 6, 2026
In April 2024, the Department of Justice issued a Final Rule under the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II requiring public entities, including universities, to meet new standards for digital accessibility and expanding the definition of the types of digital content that has to be accessible. This requirement extends to websites, mobile applications, electronic documents, videos, forms, and course materials.
Compliance is compulsory, becoming effective for UA on April 24, 2026. Failing compliance and breaching OCR agreements can expose organizations to civil penalties, multimillion-dollar settlements, reputational harm, and—in extreme cases—criminal liability for willful misconduct.
Perform a self audit. Take a look at your work at the university and ask yourself how it affects you. If you are unsure, utilize online resources and university experts to help you.
- Do you manage a university website? If yes, check to make sure that your text is easy to read, your images all have alt text and image descriptions, your videos all have captions, any forms are accessible, that you can navigate using only keyboard navigation, and that the content is still readable when enlarged to 200%. Learn more about web and digital accessibility.
- Do you manage a university social media page? If yes, you need to make sure that starting April 24, 2026, you are adding alt text to images, providing descriptive language of visual content, captioning videos, and using hashtags appropriately. Pre-existing social media content is one of the few exceptions to this new rule, so this only applies moving forward. Learn more about social media accessibility.
- Do you create public documents, reports, or pdfs? Under the new rule digital documents need to be accessible too, meaning they are organized and labeled appropriately including tables and images. Learn more about document accessibility.
- Are you a faculty member? The new rule applies to academic course content meaning that all materials hosted within Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Canvas or Blackboard including syllabi, reading materials, lecture notes, quizzes, video and audio content, and any digital resources required for participation in a course, must be accessible. If you need help please contact the instructional designers for your institution or review information provided through the UA Digital Accessibility website.
- Do you utilize third-party software or applications? Any software that is used on various devices, including web-based applications have to meet accessibility standards. Make sure that any new purchases are coordinated through the OIT software request process and reach out to your IT office for assistance in evaluating your current products.
Key Exceptions
- Archived content: Content stored for reference, research, or record-keeping that is not currently used and has not been changed since archiving may be exempt.
- Pre-existing social media posts: Posts made before the April 24, 2026, deadline do not need to be remediated, but all posts after this date must be compliant.
- Individualized, password-protected documents: Files (PDFs, etc.) about a specific person or account that are secured (e.g., an individual's financial aid statement) are exempt.
For all exceptions, an accessible format must still be provided upon request.
Digital accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. The impacts of the new rule are so far-reaching there is no one single answer or contact for achieving compliance. Additional guidance and resources will be shared at a system and local level as we approach this important deadline. Take time to assess what you need to do to meet these guidelines now and into the future. Participate in any training offered at your location. And remember, by making digital content accessible, we can enrich the experience for everyone.