OHA Digital Accessibility Blog: March 24, 2026

Under the DOJ’s Title II rule, state and local governments and agencies must comply with WCAG 2.1 (AA) by April 24th, 2026. That’s exactly one month from today. If you work for a state agency and have been involved in accessibility efforts, you probably already know this. You’ve also probably seen a rise in panicked emails and messages from coworkers over the past few weeks.

In this article, we share our perspective on how state agencies should approach digital accessibility in anticipation of the April 24th deadline. More importantly, we look at what comes after April 24th—and how agencies can build accessibility practices that last.

Quick fixes are tempting, but they often don’t solve the real problem. In some cases, they can even make things worse.

Accessibility overlays are a good example. Overlays are tools that add third party code—often JavaScript—on top of a website to try to fix accessibility issues. When they first appeared, overlays seemed like an easy solution, and they quickly became popular. You’ve probably seen an overlay icon on a website before.

However, people with disabilities have been saying for years that overlays don’t live up to the hype. In many cases, they actually reduce accessibility instead of improving it.

More recently, artificial intelligence has been promoted as the answer to every accessibility challenge. While AI tools have led to some improvements, they are not a substitute for human judgment and lived experience. Automated testing can still reliably check only about 30% of WCAG success criteria. The remaining 70% requires manual testing. Our testing confirms that the advent of AI-driven testing tools hasn't drastically changed this ratio.

Automated tools can be helpful when used appropriately. But when organizations believe they can replace human testers and remediators entirely, resources often get misdirected—and accessibility suffers as a result.

Real accessibility work centers the expertise of people with disabilities. It focuses on building skills, knowledge, and processes across an organization. It is deeply human work. It takes time, but programs built this way are ultimately more effective and more sustainable.

Start by asking a simple question: What are our ten most visited websites and documents? If you don’t know the answer, find out.

Test that content for accessibility. Fix the issues you find. Then apply what you’ve learned to new content. If templates need to be redesigned, redesign them.

Build your process iteratively. Fix more websites and documents as you go. The long term goal is to make accessibility part of your standard workflow, so every website and document is accessible before it’s published. This takes time, but it is achievable. 

Try not to get stuck on low value, high effort problems—like remediating that complex, 300 page ‘frankensteined’ PDF that very few people read. If possible, archive these documents. Content created before the April deadline does not need to be remediated once it’s archived.

If archiving isn’t an option, focus your time and resources on the content the public needs most. Test and fix content in order of importance. You can return to complex edge cases later, once higher priority content is accounted for.

As you integrate accessibility into your content strategy, you may need to update style guides or redesign templates. But you don’t need to invent a custom solution for every problem. Many great accessibility resources already exist if you know where to look.

The Digital Accessibility Team at OHA has created materials you can reuse—some of which are available on this website! Other states, including Massachusetts, Colorado, and Minnesota also offer excellent accessibility resources.

The federal government provides a wide range of guidance; for example, check out the Section 508 listserv and the Interagency Accessibility Forum (IAAF) page for helpful advice and events.

The W3C remains a foundational source for standards and best practices. Start by bookmarking the WCAG 2.2 page, and the WAI-ARIA landing page. 

If you're at OHA, before you adopt a new resource from outside the agency (or create a new resource related to digital accessibility), check in with the Digital Accessibility Team first. We may have helpful guidance for your team.

Finally, remember to give back. If you create accessibility resources for your agency or program, consider sharing them publicly. When agencies work together and share what they’ve learned, everyone benefits—and the overall burden becomes lighter.

As the April 24th deadline approaches, it’s easy to feel pressure to act fast and fix everything at once. But accessibility is not something you “finish” by a certain date. It’s an ongoing practice that improves over time.

The most meaningful progress comes from steady effort: showing up, focusing on what matters most, learning from people with disabilities, and building accessibility into everyday work. When agencies take this approach, they move beyond compliance and toward something more valuable—digital services that truly work for everyone.

In that sense, digital accessibility isn’t just about meeting a requirement. It’s about cultivating patience, care, and shared responsibility. And that mindset will serve agencies well long after the deadline has passed.