Navigating the New ADA Title II Digital Accessibility Rules: Your Roadmap to Compliance

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires state and local governments to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to their programs, services, and activities. Recent reinforcing of Title II, including the DOJ’s April 24^th, 2024 Final Rule and specific executive action by the Biden administration have stiffened the spine of this venerable mandate.

The ADA’s Title II update aims to improve access to digital public services and establish a precedent for digital inclusivity. The update aims to standardize the accessibility of digital platforms across different governmental bodies, providing a consistent experience for all users.

The update includes specific exceptions to the rule, such as:

• Archived web content created before the compliance date and used for reference, research, or recordkeeping
• Pre-existing electronic documents, such as PDFs
• Pre-existing social media posts
• Content posted by unaffiliated third parties
• Individualized, password-protected documents

Compliance timelines vary based on the size of the organization, with smaller public entities given more time. For example, public entities with a population of 50,000 or more must comply by April 2026, while those with a smaller population and all special district governments must comply by April 2027.

So, now what do we do? If you are like most public entities, it’s time to consult some best practices, and avoid re-inventing the wheel.

Workflow is Queen! We hear repeatedly that due to overwhelming there is an appetite to implement automated workflows that do the heavy lifting to slake overwhelming document volumes and unrealistic timelines. How does it work? We won’t bore you with the details but here’s the shorthand version:

1. Use tools to build your inventory, and prioritize the effort
2. Test that inventory immediately and over time to get a trendline on what’s going on
3. Create workflows that initiate automation that pre-tags or completely tags documents in a lights-out environment – basically, get as much done with automation up front as possible
4. Test again – but be careful to hone your criteria and avoid false positives
5. Hit the easy button by outsourcing difficult files to a trusted remediation house
6. Upskill your team in-house
7. Finish the process for a discreet subset of the documents, and return to step 1!

We are hosting a webinar on September 12^th, 2024 that will delve into best practices, and what a former DOJ representative, turned industry expert suggests are the next best steps. Please join us by registering now!