What is Digital Accessibility?
Digital accessibility means designing websites, apps, documents, videos, and other digital tools so that people with different abilities can use them. It’s about removing barriers that stop people with visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor differences, or who use various types of assistive technology, from finding information, completing tasks, or participating online.
Why now?
In 2024, both the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services published changes to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
- Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with disabilities from discrimination by state and local governments in their services, programs, and activities.
- Section 504 helps ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to educational opportunities by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education.
Broadly, these changes clarified the obligations of large public entities—including higher education institutions like the University of California system—to ensure that web content and mobile applications are accessible to individuals with disabilities. As a result, the University of California system began updating its IT Accessibility Policy to ensure that UC Berkeley and other campuses comply with its federal obligations.
What changed?
Under the new policy, all digital content and platforms representing any Rausser College department, office, program, division, or academic/organized research unit must adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards. These are an internationally recognized framework used by businesses, government agencies, and other groups to ensure digital content is accessible to all people.
Platforms and content types subject to WCAG 2.1 AA include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Any web content, websites, or web applications created, managed, or utilized by Rausser College (i.e, nature.berkeley.edu, Department webpages, non-berkeley.edu websites used by any Berkeley unit or entity)
- Electronic documents (PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, etc) provided by Rausser College or UC Berkeley (i.e., meeting notes, agendas, student advising forms, reports)
- Emails and other digital communications (i.e., Newsletters, update emails, event invites)
- Live events and presentations (i.e., Virtual livestreams, meetings, conferences, presentation techniques)
- Images, graphics, and other visual elements (i.e., photos, illustrations, graphs, diagrams, collages, maps, and infographics)
- Posts on social media platforms (i.e., X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram posts by any account affiliated with a Berkeley entity)
- Video or multimedia content (i.e., recorded lectures, presentations, podcasts, demonstrations)
What is the deadline?
While you may have heard that the DOJ extended the ADA Title II deadline to 2027, there are two other compliance deadlines set by both federal regulations and University policy.
- April 24, 2026: Deadline for exceptions under Title II of the ADA, and compliance with UC’s IT Accessibility Policy begins.
- May 11, 2026: Deadline for compliance under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
- April 26, 2027: Extended deadline for compliance under Title II of the ADA.
The Digital Accessibility Program (DAP), which oversees digital accessibility compliance at UC Berkeley, has informed us that UC Berkeley’s primary compliance deadline is now May 11, 2026.