Digital Compliance

Advocacy Issues, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

ADA digital compliance ensures that digital content, such as websites and applications, is accessible to people with disabilities: those with vision, hearing, motor, and/or cognitive impairments.

Key Elements of ADA Digital Compliance

  • Perceivable: Content must be accessible to the senses; this includes adding alt text for images for visually impaired users.
  • Operable: Interfaces should be navigable using a keyboard, not just a mouse, to assist users with motor impairments.
  • Understandable: Information should be readable and predictable, using simple language and consistent navigation.
  • Robust: Digital content must be compatible with various assistive technologies, especially screen readers.

Effective date: June 24, 2024.

Compliance dates: A public entity, other than a special district government, with a total population of 50,000 or more shall begin complying with this rule April 24, 2026. A public entity with a total population of less than 50,000 or any public entity that is a special district government shall begin complying with this rule April 26, 2027. Technical requirements for ensuring that web content that State and local government entities provide or make available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. Web content is defined by § 35.104 to mean the information and sensory experience to be communicated to the user by means of a user agent (e.g., a web browser), including code or markup that defines the content’s structure, presentation, and interactions. This includes text, images, sounds, videos, controls, animations, and conventional electronic documents. Subpart H also sets forth technical requirements for ensuring the accessibility of mobile apps that a public entity provides or makes available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements.

SOURCES