Published by: WCET | 11/7/2024
Tags: Accessibility, Distance Education, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, Regulation, State Authorization, Student Success, U.S. Department Of Education, WCET
A recent NWHeat webinar highlighted that public institutions must mobilize immediately (if not sooner) to meet the coming U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) accessibility guidelines. Released in April 2024, the new regulation requires “state and local governments to make their websites and mobile applications accessible for people with disabilities.” These rules encompass all public colleges and universities.
This post highlights key points from the webinar that was dense with information. The featured speaker was Mary Lou Mobley of National Digital Access Team within the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. NWHeat (Northwest Higher Education Accessibility Technology) is a partnership between Orbis Cascade Alliance (for libraries) and the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium (NWACC). The next NWHeat webinar on these regulations will be November 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM PST on ADA Title II Regulations Exemptions and Questions with Judith Risch.
The new requirements apply to all public entities, such as state and local governments, in all of their functions, including motor vehicle departments, libraries, police departments, and K-12 schools. Yes, all public colleges and universities are included as well. A parallel rule covering private colleges is under development and is due to be released later this year or early next year.
All content and functions of your websites, mobile applications, and social media that you are using after the implementation deadline will need to meet the specific accessible standards. This encompasses everything online or on your apps. It will affect students, faculty, and staff. A few examples of what needs to be accessible include (but are not limited to):
Pretty much everything that is online. There are a few exemptions, but they are very narrow and specific. The details are too involved for this post, but ADA.gov provides a helpful fact sheet.
From the DOJ press release announcing the rule: “The agency is adopting the technical standards of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, which requires 50 success criteria to make websites accessible. This includes converting pictures and documents so they can be read with assistive technology for individuals with vision loss and providing captions for live and prerecorded videos for individuals with hearing loss.”
The deadline is determined by the population of the geographic area that your public entity serves. Note that for colleges, it is NOT your enrollment, but the number of people living in the state or district you serve. So, the official geographic region from which the institution draws its students. The compliance deadline is:
Only colleges that serve a small county or service district will qualify for the later date. Most colleges or universities have a statewide mandate or serve a city or county with 50,000 or more in population. One example highlighted was that of an online K-12 school with eight students enrolled but has a statewide service area. That school fits into the earlier date for large populations.
DOJ tried a voluntary approach to accessibility. It has not worked.
The new requirements ensure that all public entities have a known and standard set of accessibility requirements that they must meet.
Initially, the DOJ proposed several exemptions for institutions that would have allowed five days to remediate non-accessible issues found on public entity content or applications. Based on the public comments submitted, they instead decided to follow a universal design approach, much as has been done with physical spaces.
These requirements will help both those with and without disabilities. Much like physical facility requirements, such as corner curb cuts, larger bathroom stalls, and door-opening buttons can help everyone, the new standards will provide a more successful and inclusive experience for all.
These regulations will primarily be enforced through lawsuits alleging non-compliance rather than through actions by the DOJ.
Mobley provided some great advice on actions that institutions should be taking, and I have organized them into categories:
Like in all big journeys, successfully meeting these new standards will be accomplished a step at a time. Make a plan. The sooner you start, the easier the path will be.
Of course, the results of the election that was held since this webinar might have an impact on the future of this regulation. It will take quite a while for clarity to emerge on that issue. Meanwhile, we hope that you continue to support students with disabilities as much as you can.
This post was written by Russ Poulin, WCET and published in collaboration with NWHeat.
Due to Office of Civil Rights’ policies, the webinar was not recorded nor were the slides shared. Resources that were shared during the webinar are shared on the NWHeat website.
For NWACC and Orbis Cascade Alliance members, there is another NWHeat webinar on these regulations (ADA Title II Regulations Exemptions and Questions) on November 20 at 3 pm Pacific time.
WCET and State Authorization Network (SAN) members have access to a members-only brief on these regulations: Access for All: New Accessibility Rules for Public Entities. Links to the document for: WCET members and for SAN members.
