Frequently Asked Questions

You should start with the digital materials you use every semester and can be accessed by students, employees, or guests. This includes digital files like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, online forms, websites, video captioning and audio description options, and alt-text for images. When procuring courseware, software, and other digital content ensure you are procuring materials that are WCAG2.1AA compliant.

Faculty are responsible for ensuring that all digital materials that you create, procure, or utilize in your course are accessible and meet the new standards. This includes third-party videos, Canvas pages, homework platforms, digital documents, etc. Please continue to follow best teaching practices by utilizing the built-in accessibility checkers

Yes, if it is a digital file that you put online, you will need to take steps to make it accessible. Any digital course content must be updated to be accessible to the new standards as they are treated as any other web or mobile app content. This includes assigned readings, textbooks, instructional videos, recorded lectures, Canvas content, handouts, images, PowerPoints, Word Files, Excel files, and any other digital file you put online for viewing.

While PDFs are one of the most common file types due to their ability to be opened on virtually all devices, they are also the most complicated to make accessible. We highly recommend that you evaluate if the PDF is required. Remediation of a PDF is very time and labor intensive and can be frustrating for most users, even with the accessibility features in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Therefore, it is recommended that you use the original source document (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, etc.) instead of PDF format whenever possible. The original source document will almost always be more accessible and will be easier to remediate. Here are some things to consider:

• Did the PDF originate as a website?
  • Do not “Print to PDF” as this can remove accessibility features.
  • Instead, embed a link to the webpage with this information in a text format. Alternatively, some websites will provide an HTML version of the article that can be brought into the course.
• Is the PDF of a scholarly journal article, book chapter, or other publisher content?
  • Avoid downloading the PDF from the source and uploading it to your course without going through the remediation process or without any required permission.
  • It is often possible to “permalink” from your course to the information. You may also find an HTRML version from the source as well.
• Is the PDF of material or handwritten items scanned in as an image?
  • If the image is an image-only PDF, you will need to run through an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program like that available in Adobe Acrobat Pro or Panorama to create text for the document. Then go through the remediation process.
  • You may find that there are extensive errors after the document is OCR’d. If so, it may be easier to start with a fresh scan or consult with a librarian to try to source another document.
• Did your document start as a Microsoft Office or Google Suite document?
  • Keep them in this file type and remediate them in the source software.
  • If you determine that you need to post only PDFs due to intellectual property, copyright, preserving formatting, or other concerns, you will want to ensure the file is remediated and compliant and maintain an accessible source document that can be provided if additional accommodation is needed.

Online@JSU has provided an excellent workflow guide for simplifying the often-complicated nature of remediating content.

Yes, there are limited exceptions to the compliance requirement. A document is not required to comply with the new ADA Title II rule and the established accessibility standards if all the following apply:

1. If the document is one of the listed file types (text/word document, spreadsheet, or PDF); and
2. It was posted online before April 24, 2026; and
3. It is not being used for applications, participation, or access to services.

If the three above conditions are met, the document is considered a “preexisting conventional electronic document,” can be marked as archived, and is not required to be made accessible unless one of the conditions change. It is important to know that even if it is not required to be made accessible, we still must provide an accessible version if someone requests it.

Examples:

• A document created in 2023 and is still being used in current courses or transferred from a prior course to a new course in a course copy must be made accessible.
• A video recording used in a course must be made accessible.
• A digital document posted in a Canvas Course in 2021 that has been archived does not need to be made accessible.
• Handwritten notes or scholarly materials that have been scanned and converted to PDF and are used in a current course must be made accessible.

Even if you use content that is created, hosted, and/or provided by a third party, it must be accessible. Work with the IT office and members of the Digital Accessibility team to have discussions with the vendor around making content accessible and compliant with the current standards. If you are using content from outside websites (e.g., YouTube or Vimeo), you must use content that is accessible or go through a process to make it accessible.

A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a document that is used by vendors to explain how a product conforms (or does not conform) to specific standards. There is a Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version. Once completed, you may hear these referred to as an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). These are often requested during the procurement/evaluation process as a quick assessment of compliance for the product. You do not need to have extensive knowledge of accessibility standards to conduct the quick assessment of compliance.

The VPAT-WCAG or ACR has two sections. The first section is the “Product Information Page.” This page lists the details about the product, the date of the report, and the evaluation methods used. The more details here, the better. You want to check the applicable standards and guidelines for adherence to at least the WCAG2.1AA standards. Anything listed Section 508, WCAG2.1A, WCAG 2.0, etc. as a standard may likely be out of date.

The second section is the “Success Criteria Table”. This section documents the compliance with specific WCAG criteria. The first column states the criteria and level. The second column shares the conformance level with you. The third column will provide remarks and explanations about their compliance with the criteria. An empty Column 3 is a red flag. What do Conformance Levels mean?

• Supports: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
• Partially Supports: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criteria. We often see this with software and platforms who are working towards compliance. For example, a courseware vendor may have several areas which are listed partial support. While their platform itself may be compliant, the content in the platform may not yet be fully. So, you would want to work with the vendor to see if your specific content has been brought up to the new standard.
• Does Not Support: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criteria.
• Not Applicable: The criteria are not relevant to the product.

It is important to note that this is just one information point in the process. We can always collaborate with the vendor to ask for additional information around their testing process and timelines for bringing the requested material to the new standards.

This may depend on the course design. If students are asked to provide peer feedback, grading, discussion boards, or other similar interaction as part of a course, then the rule does apply. It is important to utilize accessible platforms for the required peer interaction. If the student posts feedback that is inaccessible, be prepared to provide the content in an accessible format if it is needed. If the student is simply submitting a digital file to you for grading, it likely may not be required to comply under this rule.

Assistive Technology is any technology (e.g., equipment or software) that helps people work around the barriers they have to learning, communication, and mobility. It is often used to improve or maintain the functional capabilities of people with disabilities. We see many examples of assistive technologies every day. Some people use prescription glasses to read, see, or drive. Others use canes or wheelchairs for mobility. Other examples can include (but are not limited to):

• Special Purpose Computers
• Screen readers
• Magnification software / CCTV
• Speech to Text and Text to Speech solutions
• Specialized keyboards, switches, or pointing/alternative input devices
• Hearing Loop Systems
• Hearing aids or cochlear implants
• Touch boards/screens
• Amplified stethoscopes
• Pencil Grips
• And more.

It is important that as faculty and support staff we know how to create instruction and material that is conducive to AT use. For example, a screen reader can read text documents. However, if that document is very long and not formatted with proper heading and list structures, the student will not be able to scan the document with the reader while also navigating to specific parts of the document the way someone without a screen reader may be able to do.