WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice issued an interim final rule this month delaying by one year the digital accessibility compliance deadlines under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Public entities serving 50,000 or more people will have until April 26, 2027 to make their digital materials accessible, while smaller public institutions will have until April 26, 2028.

The postponement applies to public colleges, K-12 schools, local governments and other public institutions, which will have an extra year to make their digital materials fully accessible for people with disabilities. The Justice Department overrode the original accessibility rule four days before its deadline.

"We overestimated the capabilities (whether staffing or technology) of covered entities to comply with the rule in the time frames provided," the department said in its interim final rule. The department cited concerns about cost and staff resources from higher education and elementary and secondary education advocacy groups when postponing the requirements.

AASA met with federal officials to request a delay, and its survey found that most districts said they would struggle to pay for compliance costs. "Many districts are already financially stretched and operating in an environment where schools are asked to do more with less," said Sasha Pudelski of AASA. "The scope, pace, and unfunded nature of this requirement reflect a disconnect between federal expectations and the fiscal and human capital realities of local school systems," she added.

The National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota condemned the delay. "We are outraged," said Corbb O'Connor, president of the organization. "Yet again, the blind have been told to wait to live on terms of equality," he added.

"We've been waiting nearly 36 years since the law that guaranteed these rights, the one that heralded a new era of access, was signed into law," O'Connor said. The Association on Higher Education And Disability, which represents disability resource staff, including ADA coordinators, at colleges and universities, also opposed the delay.

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted in 1990, promised accessibility for people with disabilities, including in the digital realm, though before the new regulation the law did not specify detailed requirements for digital accessibility. The regulation, announced in 2024, directs institutions to follow the WCAG 2.1 technical guidelines and provides a checklist of accessibility requirements for web and mobile content, including transcripts for audio clips, captioning for videos, and ensuring PDFs and other webpages are compatible with screen readers. International standards for web accessibility have existed since 1999.