The update to ADA Title II, passed in April 2024, relates to the accessibility of digital content like websites, apps, PDFs, online courses, and more of state and local governments.
The original deadline for compliance for Large Entities (serving 50,000+ people) was April 24, 2026, with the deadline for smaller entities being the following year, in April 2027.
However, on April 20th, mere days away from the deadline, the Department of Justice revised the deadline, giving a year extension, stating, “The compliance date for State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more is extended from April 24, 2026, to April 26, 2027. The compliance date for public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government, is extended from April 26, 2027, to April 26, 2028.”
The deadline extension gives you more breathing room – but not an excuse to wait. And even if you don’t work directly with state or local government, these updates are worth your attention: accessibility legislation is tightening globally, and Title II is a preview of what’s coming for everyone.
What is ADA?
The Americans with Disabilities Act, commonly called by its initials “ADA”, is a Civil Rights Law passed in 1990, when the internet was still in its infancy. Its primary purpose is to ensure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else in all aspects of public life. The law is broken down into 5 “Titles”.
Title I focuses on employers. They need to make sure that those with disabilities receive accommodations from their employers and prohibit discrimination.
Title II, the focus of this update, relates to state and local governments, making sure that people with disabilities can access government services, including everything from public transit to voting to websites and apps.
Title III focuses on private businesses that are open to the public, and dictates that these businesses must be both physically accessible (think ramps, wheelchair accessible bathrooms) and digitally accessible so that people with disabilities can use their online services equally.
Title IV is about telecommunications. It requires that telephone companies support relay services to aid in communication for those that need it, and for services such as captioning and sign language interpreters to be provided for public service announcements.
Lastly, Title V is called Miscellaneous Provisions. Rather than covering a specific area, it focuses on covering how the law is enforced and gets into specifics about what is and isn’t considered a disability, protection against retaliation, and other “fine print” details.
What are the updates to ADA Title II?
Essentially, the updates to ADA Title II mandate that state and local governments must make sure that their websites and mobile applications adhere to the technical standard of WCAG 2.1 AA.
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (the abbreviation is often pronounced Wah-cag). First drafted in 1999 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) with its last major update in 2024, it’s considered the golden standard for web and mobile accessibility.
However, its guidelines focus primarily on the web, since mobile was not as much of a priority when it was created (the eventual WCAG 3.0 release aims to change that).
Previously, ADA did not reference any specific guidelines or rules to follow in achieving accessibility compliance, instead relying on how courts might interpret the rule. WCAG was the implied gold standard, but now with the updates to Title II, it’s the mandate directly referred to in the document.
Two important distinctions to make – the version of WCAG this applies to and the Level.
The version distinction
This update mandates WCAG 2.1, but the most current version published is WCAG 2.2.
This is because when this update was first introduced, WCAG 2.2 had not been released yet.
WCAG 2.2 introduces nine new success criteria for meeting the guidelines and removes one. WCAG 2.2 builds on and covers everything in 2.1, and it’s likely that the law will eventually update to include the latest version.
Plus, if you’re already going through the process of updating your accessibility compliance, we advise you include those 9 criteria to be up to date with the latest guidelines. Therefore, we recommend following WCAG 2.2 even if WCAG 2.1 is what is mentioned in the update.
The level distinction
WCAG is broken up into three “levels” A, AA, and AAA. Each level is inclusive of the previous, so to meet Level AA conformance, you must also cover everything in A.
The criteria in A are considered the bare minimum things you need to do to make your digital product not prohibitive to users with disabilities.
Level AA, the level mentioned in the Title II update, is considered the standard, and following it makes the product accessible to the widest range of users.
Level AAA is difficult to achieve and is therefore considered reserved for products that specifically cater to an audience with disabilities (though striving to confirm with some or all of the criteria in this level is a worthwhile pursuit).
Why this matters even if Title II doesn’t apply to you
You might believe that because you don’t work with state or local governments, or maybe don’t even do business in the United States, you should not bother paying attention to these updates.
However, this update is just the latest in a trend of new and updated accessibility legislation around the world. Chances are high that this update to Title II will soon be applied to Title III, affecting all public business owners.
The EU has the European Accessibility Act which enforces their own standard, EN 301 549, and directly incorporates WCAG. Canada has AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act), Israel has the The Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act, and Australia has the Disability Discrimination Act. WCAG continues to be the gold standard.
Getting ahead of the curve will not only protect you legally, but ensure you are creating a product that is usable by everyone.
A case study on how to prepare for the updates to ADA Title II
So how can you prepare to be compliant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA? The first step is an accessibility audit.
Introducing: our client, GoValidate, an example of how to do this process right.
GoValidate works with US States and agencies to create digital identification verification products. With over 72% of residents of Louisiana using their digital wallet app for storing their licenses, it was crucial that they be in compliance with the ADA Title II update.
Inventory the screens
Working with GoValidate, we started the audit by taking an inventory of all of the unique app screens and flows. This was both to make sure we had covered all aspects of the app and to act as a tracker of our progress as we split up the work amongst our accessibility specialists.
Audit with assistive technology
Next, it was time to start auditing.
In order to do a comprehensive accessibility audit, it is essential to test across a variety of devices and assistive technologies, using the app the same way a person with disabilities might. For us, that included testing with two different iPhones and Android devices.
On the iPhones, we tested screen reader support with Voiceover, and Talkback on Android, commonly used by blind users.
We also tested switch control support. Users with limited mobility might use a switch control such as an external keyboard or tool to operate a touchscreen. Both iOS and Android now even support using facial gestures to “tap” the screen.
Our accessibility specialists also look out for accessibility violations like poor contrast or areas of the app where content does not respond well to increased font size.
As one final check we do an automated scan to catch anything in the underlying code we might have missed.
Most automated scans capture at most 30-40% of issues with an app. In order to capture all potential accessibility issues, it is crucial to use the manual testing methods we described above, experiencing the app just like a disabled user might.
Report the issues
As we audit each screen with a variety of methods, we note the issues we come across.
Recognizing when an issue occurs requires an expert level understanding of the WCAG guidelines and their implications, which is why our specialists are certified with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. Then we add those discovered issues to a report.
Our Accessibility Lead Ana Šekerija has come up with a solution to speed up the reporting process ten-fold. Utilizing Infinum’s Accessibility Handbook, Accessibility Mobile Standards, and the various documents available from W3C, Ana trained a custom GPT to take the WCAG version, level, devices we are testing against, and a description of the issue, and output a formatted issue report with a title, description, severity level, and recommended remediation techniques
We read over each output for accuracy, and then transfer it to our report. The custom GPT speeds up our work but is no replacement for the skilled human work needed to find the issues and verify the best solution.
It provides our clients with a detailed, precise, and prioritised list of issues while saving our experts hours of writing reports and letting them focus on tasks that require human expertise.
Setting up the custom accessibility GPT has had a truly transformative effect on our testing process. Once it had the right context, it became very good at the things AI does best, like organizing information, referencing standards and structuring reports. It saves our team a huge amount of time, so our experts can focus on what really requires their expertise: testing products with empathy, thinking critically about the experience and making sure they really work for everyone.
ANA ŠEKERIJA, ACCESSIBILITY LEAD
After all of the issues are logged, we count the number of issues and present them according to priority so that the team knows exactly what to tackle first.
Accessibility compliance report
The final step is optional – but if you ever need to demonstrate compliance to customers, regulators, or partners, it’s the document they’ll ask for.
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) developed a template known as a VPAT, or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. Once it is filled out, it is known as an Accessibility Compliance Report, or ACR.
The ACR is accepted across the industry as a standard document to produce in order to show to interested parties the ways in which your product is accessible.
It goes through each WCAG criteria (there is also versions that include Section 508 and EN 301 549 if needed), reports whether the product is compliant or not, and in what ways. This document can be supplied when requested as evidence for accessibility compliance or could be placed on an accessibility statement page for all to access.
Exceptions to the ADA Title II update
There are a few exceptions for digital content related to the ADA Title II updates to be aware of.
Archived content
Content that is “archived”, meaning that it was created before the deadline date, is only kept for reference in a designated “archive” area, and has not been updated since it was archived does not need to meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standards set by the new rule.
Pre-existing electronic documents
Some state and local governments might have loads of old documents like PDFs, Word docs, presentations, and spreadsheets on their sites. If these documents were uploaded before the deadline and fit the criteria to be considered an electronic document, they are exempt. Keep in mind that any new electronic documents must comply!
Content posted by a third-party
User generated content such as comments posted by someone who is not posting because of any contractual agreements with the entity is exempt.
Individualized, secured documents
Documents that are not public but meant for specific individuals such as a PDF of someone’s water bill are exempt.
Preexisting social media posts
Social media posts made by the entity before the deadline are exempt. However, going forward the posts must be accessible. For example, images must meet contrast guidelines and have alternative text.
Checklist of what you need to do to prepare for the updates to ADA Title II
So, in summary: The ADA Title II update mandates that state and local governments that serve 50,000+ people must make sure their digital products meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines by the deadline of April 26th, 2027 (April 2028 for smaller entities). In order to prepare you must either do the following yourself or hire a partner, like Infinum, to do this for you. A third-party audit ensures an impartial evaluation – something an internal review rarely achieves.
- Inventory your existing digital products
- Ensure any 3rd-party software you use (payment portals, maps, etc.) is accessible and provides an ACR/VPAT
- Study up on the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines and consider incorporating WCAG 2.2 AA as well to be ahead of the curve
- Learn how to use assistive technology like screen readers and switch access
- Audit for compliance using assistive technologies
- Report on issues and organize by severity and priority
- Remediate the issues
- Create an accessibility compliance report
- Craft an accessibility statement for your product
Got all that? If you’d like support at any stage – from audit to remediation to your final compliance report – Infinum’s accessibility specialists are ready to help.
