Deadline Nears for Web Accessibility Standards

Federal standards for web accessibility in higher education are tightening. The Department of Justice finalized a rule outlining requirements to ensure all digital content — including websites, videos, audio, documents, forms and instructional content —  is accessible to people with disabilities.

UNCW has long prioritized accessibility on campus and across its digital platforms, and we will continue to uphold that commitment as an institution. The rule sets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the standard for compliance. UNCW faculty and staff must understand their responsibilities to help the university meet this goal and maintain the required accessibility standards by April 24, 2026.

What It Means

The April deadline is based on a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure digital content and mobile applications are 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.

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.

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. Work with your team to clarify responsibilities.

Content managers must ensure that the web content you are responsible for follows best practices for accessibility. These guidelines include

• Submitting any PDFs to be posted on the website for review to determine that they are accessible and that there is no preferable solution, such as transferring content to webpages. The university partners with an outside vendor to remediate selected PDFs but limited funds are available to do so.
• Applying the correct styles to headings, paragraphs and tables to establish a clear reading order for screen readers and other assistive devices. Do not create your own headers using bold or all caps, for instance, as these will not be understood by assistive devices.
• Including alternative text, more commonly called alt text, with all art elements on webpages. Any photos or graphics must include alt text that clearly describes what you want a person to take away from experiencing the element on the page.
• Linking only to content that is accessible. If your page links to a YouTube video, for example, 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.

You may revisit the WEB 102: Digital & Web Accessibility video from your Cascade training in Percipio to review best practices for accessibility.