At the College of Public Health and Health Professions, we are committed to providing an accessible and excellent digital experience for all users. This resource hub equips faculty and staff with the tools and guidance needed to ensure course materials and websites are fully Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or 2.2 level A/AA compliant.
What’s happening
By April 24, 2026, all websites, website-based applications, and mobile applications must meet WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 level A/AA.
As outlined in UF’s Electronic Information Technology and Communication Accessibility Policy, “The University of Florida (“UF”) is committed to ensuring that technology related to its programs, services and activities, directly or through contractual, licensing or other arrangements, will be accessible to individuals with disabilities. This policy sets forth provisions for UF’s compliance with relevant state and federal law and regulations, and details UF’s commitment to digital and electronic accessibility. This policy also provides guidance to UF employees, vendors and the UF community about their responsibilities regarding technology and digital accessibility.”
How this affects faculty and staff
This federal legal update requires you to review and update any course materials and/or content on your website to ensure it is compliant by April 24, 2026. This includes attached files such as PDF, DOCs, etc. The price of noncompliance with the ADA can result in an expensive legal judgement against the university, college and/or department.
How to start improving accessibility
In this explainer video, PHHP’s instructional design team goes over a practical road map to making courses accessible, including a 12-step workflow that breaks down the whole process into clear, manageable parts.
FAQs
What is accessibility?
Accessible means providing a person with a disability equal opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use, according to the UF policy on Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities.
What kind of materials need to meet the new accessibility standards?
All online materials, including those shared via Canvas, UF Health websites, third-party party websites, social media platforms, etc. are required to meet the new accessibility standards, including but not limited to:
- Website content (headlines, files, links, images, forms, videos, etc.)
- PDFs
- Microsoft Office files (Word, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Videos
- Social media
Can I still upload course materials such as PDFs and Microsoft Office files to Canvas?
Yes, however, they must meet the new accessibility standards before they are shared on the website and on Canvas.
There are a variety of training videos available that show how to create accessible materials using Microsoft Office and Adobe. Please visit the UF Accessibility website to learn more about creating accessible documents.
Please also visit the UF Accessibility website to find tools that can help you with updating already created materials.
What about materials posted outside of Canvas (e.g. GitHub)? Do all tools and resources used in the classroom need to meet compliance standards?
Yes, any tools and resources used by college faculty need to meet Title II ADA compliance. This includes learning management systems, websites, instructional software and even documents shared with students, ensuring that all participants have equal access regardless of disability.
Faculty can determine if a tool meets compliance standards by checking for an accessibility statement or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) from the tool’s provider, consulting with their institution’s accessibility or IT office, and testing the tool’s key features with assistive technology.
- A VPAT is a document prepared by a product, developer, vendor or third-party accessibility reviewer that describes how well the product conforms to accessibility standards. Watch the VPAT video series to learn more about talking to vendors, what to do once you receive the VPAT and more.
Do I need to edit historical materials?
There are seven exceptions to website and mobile accessibility requirements, but access must still be provided as described elsewhere.
Exceptions include:
- Archived content created or reproduced before April 24, 2026, kept only for reference and not updated (e.g., previous semester Canvas sites).
- Content posted by third parties (unless contracted or employed by UF).
- Changes that would fundamentally alter services, as determined by UF’s ADA Coordinator.
- Individualized, password-protected documents such as PDFs or presentations about a specific person.
- Preexisting documents (like PDFs or slides) made public before compliance rules, unless actively used for core services or participation.
- Social media content posted before April 24, 2026.
- Situations where meeting accessibility requirements would cause undue financial or administrative burden, as determined by UF’s ADA Coordinator.
For more information regarding exceptions, please visit the Electronic Information Technology and Communication Accessibility policy.
I have a UF Health website for my lab, center, student group, etc. (WordPress, Apollo II). What does this mean for my website?
There are two sides to consider in terms of website accessibility and compliance:
- The content you upload to these sites: This part is your/the editors responsibility. This includes things like ensuring you provide alternative text descriptions when you upload images, that any videos you create have captions and audio descriptions and that you avoid using PDF and non-website documents (e.g., DOC, XLS, etc.), or if you do, you must make them accessible.
- The technical code/back-end side: This is handled by the UF Health Web Services team. You can rest assured the website itself will exceed any accessibility requirements.
Can I upload course materials such as PDFs and Microsoft Office files to my website?
Web pages should be your “go-to” method of adding content to your site to provide the best user experience. PDFs and other downloadable files should only be used if no other option is available. If a PDF or Microsoft Office file is the only means to post your content, you must make sure they are accessible.
I have a third-party party website for my lab. Do I still need to meet WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 level A/AA?
Yes, this covers all websites, website-based applications and mobile applications that are associated with programs, services and activities operated by UF.
Tools and resources
NEW REsource!
Faculty Access to Adobe Acrobat
To support faculty with PDF remediation efforts ahead of the updated regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, UFIT’s Software Licensing Services will provide Adobe Creative Cloud licenses, which include Acrobat Pro, to faculty by request. The license will be available at no cost and valid through Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Video
Creating accessible Word documents
Tool
SensusAccess
SensusAccess is a document conversion system that converts documents into accessible formats. SensusAccess is available to UF students, staff and faculty.
training
8 Steps to course accessibility
Follow these eight steps to course accessibility, and pace yourself so you don’t run out of time.
Videos
Accessibility in 5
Short and informative videos that feature different accessibility skills that faculty can incorporate into their content design.
Training
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers more than 16,000 free training courses in seven different languages for students, faculty and staff. All of the trainings are at your fingertips 24/7, anywhere you have internet connection.
Resource
Top tips for accessibility
Get started with digital accessibility with a quick reference of what to consider when creating content and take advantage of links to more information.
Blog
How to Make Your Informational Images Accessible: an Alt-text Decision Tree
This blog post from UF IFAS Communications offers a simple decision tree to help readers write effective alt text and make informational images accessible for all users.
UF Accessibility website
Please refer to the UF Accessibility website for more information about the resources and strategies available to support compliance efforts.
UF Regulation and Policy Hub
For more information on UF’s Electronic Information Technology and Communication Accessibility Policy, including accessibility requirement exceptions for website and mobile applications, please visit the UF Regulation and Policy Hub.
UF Health Web Content Accessibility Guide
The UF Health Web Content Accessibility Guide is meant to provide UF Health website content editors and administrators with specific and important examples of what is, and is not, accessible web content.
Additional training
- Accessibility Basics (Self-paced, staff-facing)
- Accessibility Fundamentals (Self-paced, instructor-facing)
- Accessible Online Environments (Facilitated, instructor-facing)
- Tech Byte: Taking Steps to Title II: A Digital Accessibility Crash Course
- VPAT video series
Questions?
If you have any additional questions about meeting Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or 2.2 level A/AA, please don’t hesitate to reach out. The Instructional Design and Marketing and Communications teams are here to help.