Accessible digital content: A checklist for ADA Title II compliance

In April 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) finalized updated regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a long-awaited move aimed at ensuring that public colleges and universities offer fully accessible digital experiences for students, staff and visitors with disabilities.

The updated rule sets a clear mandate: all digital content — websites, apps, documents, videos and learning platforms — must be accessible. For many higher-ed institutions, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. With compliance deadlines beginning in 2026 for large entities and 2027 for smaller ones, now is the time to act.

Here’s a practical checklist to help colleges and universities begin preparing along with how Verbit can help achieve digital accessibility and long-term ADA Title II compliance.

Caption all instructional and public-facing video content

Why it matters: Captions support not only students who are deaf or hard of hearing but also multilingual learners, commuters and students in noisy environments.

ADA requirement: All video content shared on public websites or used in the digital classroom must include accurate, synchronized captions.

How Verbit helps: Verbit provides highly accurate captions for both live and pre-recorded video. Universities use Verbit to caption lectures, seminars, guest talks and on-demand learning content across platforms like Canvas, Zoom and Panopto.

Turning compliance into action

Watch our on-demand webinar for practical strategies to meet ADA Title II requirements and plan accessible video workflows.

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Include audio description for visual-heavy media

Why it matters: Students who are blind or with low vision rely on audio description to access visual information embedded in videos, animations and demonstrations.

ADA requirement: When visuals are critical for understanding content, audio descriptions must be provided.

How Verbit helps: Verbit offers professional audio description services that integrate with your media platforms, allowing students to access the full learning experience without barriers.

Transcribe audio-only content for academic use

Why it matters: Audio formats like podcasts, interviews or recorded lectures are common in higher education but inaccessible without transcripts.

ADA requirement: All public-facing and instructional audio content must be available in accessible text formats.

How Verbit helps: Verbit produces fast, searchable transcripts that meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and ADA standards, helping faculty and departments maintain compliance while improving usability.

Ensure learning platforms and websites meet WCAG 2.1

Why it matters: Course portals, library systems and university websites must be usable by students who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation or voice commands.

ADA requirement: Digital interfaces must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards to be considered accessible.

Verbit’s role: While Verbit doesn’t build websites, we partner with IT and accessibility teams to ensure that audio and video content embedded in your platforms is fully accessible, whether via captions, transcripts or audio descriptions.

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Support real-time accessibility in virtual and hybrid learning

Why it matters: Students participating in live lectures, webinars or virtual office hours must be able to access spoken content live.

ADA requirement: Real-time communication must be accessible, including live captioning and other auxiliary aids.

How Verbit helps: Verbit’s real-time captioning integrates seamlessly into Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other learning platforms, delivering live captions for classes, events and campus-wide communications.

Ensure accessibility across campus communications

Why it matters: Admissions videos, campus announcements and public-facing webinars must all meet the same accessibility standards.

ADA requirement: Any digital material made available to the public must be fully accessible.

How Verbit helps: Verbit supports large-scale accessibility efforts across university departments, helping marketing teams, registrars and communications offices caption and transcribe high-volume media quickly and reliably.

Audit and remediate archived content

Why it matters: Many institutions have years’ worth of legacy media and course materials stored on servers, LMS platforms and websites that may not meet current accessibility standards.

ADA requirement: Existing public-facing content must be made accessible unless it qualifies for a specific exemption.

How Verbit helps: Verbit supports large-scale media remediation projects, offering captioning and transcription services to help higher-ed institutions bring their legacy content into compliance.

Empowering higher-ed with Verbit’s accessibility solutions

With the ADA Title II update now finalized, the clock is ticking for colleges and universities to take measurable steps toward digital compliance. Verbit is a trusted accessibility partner to hundreds of institutions, offering:

Scalable transcription, captioning and audio description services
Integrations with LMS and video platforms
AI-powered automation plus human quality assurance
Real-time accessibility support for hybrid learning environments

Whether you’re developing a campus-wide accessibility strategy or auditing your content library, Verbit’s tools and expertise can help streamline compliance and foster a more inclusive academic experience.