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Federal Digital Accessibility Guidelines

Accessibility

UNCW has long prioritized accessibility on campus and across its digital platforms, and we will continue to uphold that commitment as an institution. University digital content — including instructional materials, audio, videos, documents, forms and websites — must be accessible by April 24, 2026, under a federal mandate outlined by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Faculty, staff and students must understand their responsibilities to help the university meet this requirement and maintain accessibility for our community. 

What it means

The 2026 deadline is based on a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that the Department of Justice signed in April 2024 to ensure digital content and mobile applications are accessible for people with disabilities.

Digital accessibility is the practice of making technology and digital content more accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight and cognitive abilities.

This rule confirms access for individuals with disabilities and users of assistive technology, ensuring inclusivity in our digital landscape.

Rule requirements

This final rule includes three main required elements.

  1. The rule requires state and local governments — including public universities such as UNCW — to make their digital content accessible.
  2. The rule establishes a technical standard to follow, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1 AA.
  3. The rule sets a compliance deadline. All university digital content, including instructional content, audio, videos, documents, forms and websites, must be accessible by April 24, 2026.

Individuals are responsible for ensuring the digital content they create or maintain for university business is accessible and meets WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.

What must be accessible?

Digital content is defined as the information and experiences available on the web, such as text, images, audio, videos and documents and the webpages and platforms that house them. The Department of Justice rule also requires mobile apps to be accessible.

Essentially, content accessed using a computer or smartphone is digital content. This includes content that also exists in a physical format. For example, if your department has a paper form and a PDF of that form online, the PDF version must be accessible.

The rule also applies to third-party content that the university or vendors post on university websites or platforms.

Your responsibilities

Everyone at UNCW is responsible for ensuring the digital content they create or maintain for university business is accessible and meets WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. Your specific responsibilities may vary depending on your role.

Staff

All digital content created for university business must be accessible by April 24, 2026. Everyone who creates or maintains digital content will make that content accessible, but some units may centralize accessibility work. Work with your team, department or unit to clarify responsibilities.

Staff who procure content, such as training courses, websites, platforms, software or apps, must ensure that content is accessible during the procurement process.

Instructors and faculty

All course content must meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines by April 24, 2026.

This includes third-party content. For example, if you link to or embed a YouTube video in your course, you are required to ensure it has accurate captions or provide a transcript as a text alternative — even if you did not create the video.

Archived reference content, such as courses from previous semesters, does not need to be accessible. However, if you reuse the course or content from the course, it must be made accessible.

Students

If you create digital content for university business, that content must be accessible by April 24, 2026. As a student, university business may include work you perform in a student job or content you create for a university-sponsored student organization or club. You are not required to make your schoolwork or personal content accessible.

For example, if you have a student job creating social media posts for a department, those social media posts must be accessible and meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. Ask your supervisor to clarify any responsibilities you have as you create and post content. You do not have to make old posts accessible retroactively.

Or, if you maintain a website for a university-sponsored student organization that is registered with UNCW Campus Activities & Involvement Center, that web content will need to meet accessibility requirements. If you create or maintain that content, you are responsible for making it accessible.

Exemptions

The Department of Justice ruling does make a few exceptions, largely for archival and reference content or preexisting content, including old social media posts. These exceptions must meet specific conditions and generally do not apply to content that is active and current. General Counsel will review and approve any exceptions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Federal guidance emphasizes that organizations must demonstrate active, documented progress toward compliance, including establishing a process, creating a transition plan, and prioritizing widely used or high-impact content.  

Practical ways to show progress include: 

  • Prioritize critical/high‑traffic content first. 
  • Document your remediation plan, including timelines and responsibilities. 
  • Begin updating new and frequently used materials to WCAG 2.1 AA as you go. 
  • Track improvements to show consistent movement toward the mandate. 

WCAG requires that digital content be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for people with disabilities — regardless of whether it is hosted internally or externally. Before linking or embedding third‑party content:  

  • Check for captions, alt text, keyboard navigation and clear structure. 
  • Use automated accessibility checkers.  
  • Avoid embedding content that clearly fails basic accessibility criteria unless an accessible alternative is available. 
  • Request accessibility conformance documentation (e.g., VPAT) from vendors when possible. 

Several units across campus support digital accessibility, including guidance on WCAG standards, tools, training, document remediation, and web support. Visit UNCW's accessibility webpage to learn more. 

UNCW website owners, delegates and content managers with access to Cascade may revisit the WEB 102: Digital & Web Accessibility training video in Percipio to review best practices for accessibility.

Help with captioning or transcripts is available through DEeL for materials created for instructional purposes. Details on the help available can be found on DEel's website.