Digital Accessibility

Purdue University is committed to maintaining a community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential. This mission is further carried out by a change with digital accessibility law going into effect April 2026, which requires Purdue University to comply with the updated regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This change requires that all state and local government entities, including public universities, ensure digital content, like web content, applications, and mobile applications, are accessible for people with disabilities, using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard.

In addition to website and application content, this requirement also applies to all digital technologies and digitally provided content used in courses.

What Does This Change Mean for You?

This change will help to make all created and hosted digital content accessible for everyone. If you are responsible for creating and/or posting content on any university-related webpage, application, you will need to make content accessible before it is posted or uploaded as well as make accessible any existing online content still in use. If you are an instructor, you will need to make accessible any digital content (documents, videos, presentations, etc.) used for your course – including materials available on Brightspace.

Per these new regulations:

  • Academic course content is no longer an exception to the rule.
    • If you are an instructor, all web and mobile content delivered in academic courses must be made accessible at the start of and throughout the term.
    • This includes, but is not limited to, documents, videos, presentations used for a course – including materials available on Brightspace.
  • Third Party Vendors are no longer an exception to the rule.
    • All web and mobile content delivered by third parties due to contractual, licensing, or other arrangements must be accessible.
  • Captioning on all videos will be required.

If you have a specific question about accessibility, please contact the CLA web team.

More Information