Title II Common Questions
The new ADA rule makes sure that websites and mobile apps provided by state and local governments (including public universities) are accessible to people with disabilities.
The rule requires websites and mobile apps to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1 Level AA standards.
Under ADA Title II, all digital content provided by the institution must be accessible to individuals with disabilities, following WCAG 2.1 AA standards. This requirement applies broadly to content created, published, or shared for university purposes, including but not limited to:
- Web content – text, images, sound, videos, and documents posted on university websites.
- Non-text content – images, charts, graphics, audio, video, and other elements that require text alternatives or equivalent descriptions.
- Time-based media – audio and video must include captions, transcripts, and, when visual information is essential, audio descriptions.
- Mobile applications – university-supported apps must meet accessibility standards.
- Documents – all digital documents (PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) must be formatted to ensure accessibility.
In practice, this covers content posted for official university business on websites, within the learning management system (e.g., Canvas), distributed via email, shared on social media, included in course materials, published as documents or multimedia files, or provided through online pages, forms, portals, and applications.
For more information, please review the Title II Web Accessibility Standards Update and the compliance plan.
The rule applies to all websites, online content, and mobile apps offered by public entities like JMU, whether they provide them directly or through other arrangements.
Yes, there are narrow exceptions, but their use is very limited. In most instances, they will not exempt a large quantity of your digital materials.
Per federal guidelines, April 24, 2026 is JMU’s compliance deadline.
The ADA Title II web/mobile accessibility regulations do not change JMU’s responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504, Virginia Law or JMU Policy 1331. All existing supports, programs, and services provided by Office of Disability Services (ODS), Office of Equal Opportunity, and Human Resources remain available.
The Office of Disability Services will continue to provide ODS-approved accommodations related to course content accessibility for individual students who are registered with ODS. For students with these ODS-approved accommodations for accessible formats, the Office of Disability Services’ Accessible Media program will continue to review and remediate content to ensure that it meets the individual student’s accommodation requirements.
Sometimes requirements for providing ODS-approved accommodations will be more stringent or specialized than the ADA Title II web/mobile regulations. ODS’s Accessible Media team will do remediation related to the provision of ODS-approved accommodations as they currently do.
Reporting Issues
Start by reaching out to the person or department responsible for the content. For example, if the issue is with a course, contact the instructor directly. If it’s a university website or service, contact the department that manages the site.
If you're not sure who to contact or need additional support, let us know and we can help guide you to the right resources or take further action as needed.
Visit these links to contact JMU’s ADA 504 Coordinator and learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The JMU Digital Accessibility Technical Advice (DATA) Team reviews all questions and feedback submitted through the digital accessibility feedback form. The DATA Team provides technical guidance to support James Madison University’s compliance with Title II. This cross-divisional group includes representatives from IT, Libraries, Digital Marketing, and Disability Services - professionals who work on accessibility as part of their main jobs.
The DATA Team is not staffed to complete actual remediation work but provides guidance and referrals for remediating content for accessibility.
The team’s recommendations reflect their best efforts to interpret and apply the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA to JMU’s digital content; however, these recommendations do not constitute legal advice. While the team cannot guarantee complete accuracy or comprehensiveness, they strive to offer reliable, practical direction.
Making Content Accessible
Various automatic and manual tools that can be used, many of which are specific to the content platform. For example, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint include built in accessibility checkers that work similarly to spell check. Instructors using Canvas to deliver instructional content can use Anthology Ally to scan course materials for accessibility issues and generate an accessibility report you can use to make improvements.
Accessibility checkers should not be used as the only test for compliance. For example, built in checkers cannot tell where headings may be necessary for navigation or whether alt-text for an image is accurate and provides useful information. Our resource pages list additional tools and how-to guides designed to help you create better accessible content.
Our Getting Started Guide For Instructors highlights tools you can use to develop accessible course content.
Anthology Ally, a tool integrated into Canvas, scans course materials for accessibility issues, offers tips for improvement, and generates an accessibility report for each course in Canvas. Ally also offers alternative formats to meet students’ learning needs, including electronic braille, speech to text, and more.
Some issues are easy to check for, and are usually simple to resolve as part of a first round of accessibility checks:
- Headings: Use headings to break content into chunks.
- Consistent Layout: Consistency of page design helps keep users oriented and sets expectations for interactive elements.
- Keep it Text: Avoid reliance on images with pictures of text, rather than simple text itself.
- Text size and spacing: Use default or larger text size and line height. Smaller sizes can make letters blur together.
- Descriptive Link Text: Links need to describe their location in concise terms and be underlined.
- Color Contrast: Ensure text has a high contrast against the background color.
- Alternative Text: Images must have adequate alternative or “alt” text that describes their purpose and content in context.
- Captions and Transcripts: Provide captions for all video content and transcripts for audio content.
- Ask: Ask us if you have any questions!
We're actively working on how-to guides for these topics. In the meantime, please visit our resources pages or the Getting Started Guide for Instructors for helpful information.
Recommended strategies and tools to support captioning and transcription can be found on the How to Caption at JMU guide and Libraries.
- Locate videos that are already captioned and assess the captions for accuracy.
- If you are new to captioning, consult the Captioning Best Practices Guide for Instructors.
As long as we are complying with copyright law – specifically fair use – when making materials available, then the only remaining concern is that the materials are uploaded in an accessible format, compliant with the ADA. There is nothing about accessibility in and of itself that changes the copyright position.
For more information on copyright and fair use, please visit the JMU Libraries copyright guide.
For narrated PowerPoints (PPTs), there are two main recommended approaches, depending on the preferred final format.
- Video file: Create a video file from the PPT and then add captions. Alt-text and reading order would not be necessary in a video, but other PPT accessibility guidance like titling slides and color contrast would still apply. If the presentation is also made available as a PPT format, it must follow the guidelines below.
- Video files should include audio description, meaning that the visual content of the slides is conveyed in auditory format. The easiest way to do this is to describe the visual components in your narration.
- PPT file: Create a transcript of the narration & add it to the Notes section of each slide. Alternatively, the transcript could be a separate document presented alongside the PPT. Make sure that students are clearly directed to where the transcripts reside; for example, an introductory slide in the PPT could include a note saying, “Transcripts to all audio narration are in the ‘Notes’ pane.”
- In this instance, standard PPT accessibility guidance should be followed, including alt-text, reading order, slide titles, etc. Refer to the Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations.
Other tips:
- If you can work from a script, that will save you time. The script can be easily utilized as a transcript.
- When creating narrated PPTs, describe important visual information/data on the slides in the narration. Alt-text should still be included on an image, but it can be much simpler if the graphic is clearly described and contextualized in the narration. This approach can also substitute for audio description if you create a video file.
- This explanation of how to write a good image description could be helpful when narrating visual information.
- Learn more about Captioning in PowerPoint
- Learn more about Audio Description
Yes, you can use these features, but it’s important to review, edit and correct them for accuracy. Auto-generated content often contains errors, so always verify and correct as needed.
AI can be used to create captions for videos, alt text for images, transcripts for audio recordings, a text file from a scanned PDF, and more. These tools have accelerated the process of creating accessible content. However, the tools also make mistakes and frequently leave out crucial content.
Generated content must be carefully reviewed for accuracy and completeness. Auto-generated captions often miss speaker changes and non-verbal sounds, both of which are essential for clarity. Similarly, AI-based voice recognition or Optical Character Recognition (or OCR, which converts scans to text) can introduce errors that distort or omit critical meaning. For image descriptions and alt text, remember that AI cannot understand the purpose of your image. Is it decorative, or does it convey essential information? Always consider its role and significance within the context of your presentation, class, or department.
Please refer to the following links for guidance on reviewing and correcting automatically generated content:
- Edit auto-captions in Canvas Studio
- Edit auto-captions in YouTube
- Check captions for accuracy
- Check and correct AI generated alt text
- Convert and edit scanned PDFs – follow the instructions to create a Word document in Sensus Access. Any errors from the auto-optical character recognition can be corrected in Word.