Ground-breaking new ADA ruling
On Monday, April 8th, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice released a ground-breaking announcement: Title II of The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) now includes regulations with specific website and mobile accessibility requirements that public entities (state and local governments) must follow.
Last July, the DOJ proposed this new ADA ruling (check out WeCo’s blog post about this announcement!). After gathering feedback from the public, they finalized the ruling before publishing it on April 8th.
What does this ruling include?
To comply with the new ruling, public entities must conform to the web and mobile accessibility standards set by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA. The WCAG are wildly regarded as an extremely reliable set of guidelines, and many organizations around the world have adopted and accepted them.
By ruling that government websites and mobile apps must conform to these guidelines, people with disabilities will soon have equal access to all web and mobile resources provided by any public entity—From public libraries and public transit agencies, to public schools and local/state courts.
Looking ahead
Depending on the population size of the state and local governments, their websites and mobile apps must conform to WCAG 2.1 AA within two to three years (ADA.gov).
While this ruling only applies to public entities, it also provides much-needed guidance to all organizations looking to create accessible digital content. If your organization needs assistance from accessibility experts living with disabilities, contact us to make an inquiry or book a meeting. For online accessibility training, check out our self-paced learning platform WeCoLearning—Great for both individuals and teams!
Further resources
- Press Release: Justice Department to Publish Final Rule to Strengthen Web and Mobile App Access for People with Disabilities
- Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (W3C )
- New Proposed ADA Ruling: A Big Step Forward for Accessibility (WeCo)
