The Department of Justice released a new rule on digital accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These rules mandate that by April 24, 2026, Oregon State University is required to meet certain digital accessibility technical standards with few exceptions. These new rules are intended to ensure our disabled community has a more proactively accessible equitable experience rather than relying on reactive accommodations to receive access to the digital environment.
This works will require effort and attention from every community member. Many offices have been collaborating to create action teams to help guide the university, and will be sharing more information as it is developed.
Requirements
All web content and mobile apps made available by the university directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, are readily accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities. The new rule requires conformance with an internationally accepted technical standard: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.
This requirement includes:
- Websites and web applications
- Mobile apps
- Electronic documents hosted on websites or mobile apps
- Digital course and instructional materials
- Social media posts
What You Can Do Now
- Learn about website accessibility and use Drupal tools to check your sites
- Use tools provided by Microsoft Office and Adobe to check document accessibility
- Ensure captions are on all of your videos on Kaltura or YouTube
- Remove any content that is no longer accurate, up-to-date, or relevant
Exceptions
There are limited circumstances where the requirements and technical standards may except certain kinds of content. A key takeaway is that all new content needs to be proactively accessible and some old archived content does not need to be accessible unless there is a request. Even with exceptions, OSU is required to ensure inaccessible content is provided in an accessible manner when it is needed by a community member.
- Archived web content. Content created before April 24, 2026 that is held solely for reference, research, or recordkeeping, and kept in a clearly marked archived section without modification.
- Preexisting conventional electronic documents. Documents posted on websites or in mobile apps before April 24, 2026 unless such documents are currently used to apply for, gain access to, or participate in the university's services, programs, or activities. Conventional documents include portable document formats (“PDF”), word processor file formats, presentation file formats, and spreadsheet file formats.
- Third-party content. Content posted by a third party, unless the third party is posting due to contractual, licensing, or other arrangements with the public entity.
- Individualized password-protected documents. Documents about a specific person, their property, or their account that are secured by a password or other authentication measures.
- Preexisting social media posts. Social media posts made before April 24, 2026.