AAPD Responds to DOJ Title II Web Accessibility Interim Final Rule
As part of our on-going advocacy and legislative updates for people with disabilities in Georgia and South Carolina, Walton Options would like to share the following information on recent DOJ activities. If you have any questions or concerns, please refer to our article, Quick & Easy 5-Step Guide to Crafting an Impactful Advocacy Letter, or contact your Representatives.
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule (IFR) entitled “Extension of Compliance Dates for Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities.”
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) issued two statements in response to this news. Both statements are linked and copied below.
Statement from The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
This rule, originally finalized in 2024, requires that state and local governments make their websites, web applications, and other electronic information accessible to people with disabilities. The compliance deadline was originally set to be April 24, 2026 for large municipalities of 50,000 or more.
The interim final rule delays the compliance deadline for large jurisdictions with more than 50,000 people to April of 2027 and for smaller jurisdictions to April 2028. The interim final rule took place yesterday, April 20, 2026.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates governments ensure “equally effective communication” for people with disabilities. The Department and DOJ Courts have long interpreted this requirement to include accessible websites.
Efforts to create an ADA Title II digital accessibility rule began over fifteen years ago during the first Obama Administration. A growing need for accessible websites and applications and increased advocacy from the disability community led the DOJ to issue a rule in 2024 requiring the websites of state and local government agencies to be accessible and designed in accordance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, widely used as a benchmark for web accessibility.
AAPD President and CEO Maria Town stated, “Extending the compliance deadline for large jurisdictions with more than 50,000 people to April of 2027 and for smaller jurisdictions to April 2028 is a profound disappointment and a serious setback for the disability community.”
Town continued, “State and local governments have known since at least the Obama administration that accessible websites were not optional and that web accessibility requirements were coming. Years of notice have not been enough, and now the Department is rewarding inaction with more time, while disabled people continue to be shut out of the digital systems that act as gateways to government information, programs, and services they depend on.”
“Delaying the compliance timeline only four days before the original deadline does not support state and local governments who are working to implement the rule. It creates chaos and confusion for those entities working towards compliance and further prevents people with disabilities from accessing government information and services. As technology evolves rapidly, delaying compliance with website accessibility guidelines will only make it harder to comply and implement in the future,” Town concluded.
This delay is not abstract. As more and more government services, from public benefits applications to emergency alert notifications to voter information, move exclusively online, inaccessible government websites are not a minor inconvenience. They are a barrier to the full participation of people with disabilities in society. Every year of delay is another year that a person who is blind cannot apply for the benefits they’re owed, that a person with an intellectual or developmental disability cannot navigate a local agency’s website, that a deaf constituent cannot access critical public safety information.
Even more alarming, the Department has signaled in the IFR its intent to conduct additional review and pursue further rulemaking that could bring substantial changes to the 2024 Title II web accessibility guidelines themselves. AAPD views this as an unacceptable threat to hard-won protections.
AAPD commends the state and local governments moving forward with their plans to comply with the Title II web accessibility rule on the original timeline and encourages all governments to prioritize digital accessibility in their service delivery, constituent engagement, and infrastructure development. AAPD further urges the Administration to withdraw this rule and begin working on the development of a digital accessibility rule for ADA Title III covered entities.