The Department of Justice has recently extended the timeline for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II digital accessibility requirements to April 2027. This additional time gives UT San Antonio the opportunity to build on the progress and continue the university’s momentum toward a more accessible digital environment.
Over the last 18 months, employees across the university have worked diligently to update existing materials across UT San Antonio’s websites and digital platforms. These are some of the many accessibility successes that faculty and staff have achieved:
- More than 5,000 PDFs have been removed or remediated
- Hundreds of YouTube videos have been updated with captions
- Overall course accessibility rate has increased by 24% since Fall 2025
- Websites’ average accessibility score is 95%, a 22% increase since 2020
This work hasn’t gone unnoticed, explained RaLynn McGuire, UT San Antonio’s lead specialist for accessibility and universal design.
“As someone with a disability that requires the use of a screen reader — software that converts digital text and images into speech — I recently experienced our work results firsthand when I visited a website to RSVP for a campus event,” McGuire recalled. “Pulling up the site, I was met with a fully accessible experience. Decorative images were ignored by my screen reader, page headings were structured logically and made navigation easy, completing the form was straightforward, and I didn’t encounter color contrast issues.”
McGuire said the moment brought her to tears.
“This was tangible evidence that the changes we have all been working toward are taking hold,” she said.
Accessing important digital information can be challenging for people with disabilities, but McGuire notes that the added awareness and action brought on by the Title II requirements has made a real difference.
“Progress is happening and moments like this matter more than you might realize,” she said. “They send a clear message that I, and other people with disabilities, are valued at UT San Antonio, and I am truly grateful for all the hard work that has gone into this effort.”
Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility
Whenever an employee produces or shares a digital item, it must be accessible. Every faculty and staff member plays a role in this effort. If you create, manage or share digital content, accessibility is part of your work. This includes documents such as Word files and PDFs, web pages and online forms, presentations, videos and course materials, as well as software and digital tools used across the university.
Steps to take
Achieving and maintaining accessibility requires ongoing attention. As content evolves, so must the efforts to ensure it remains usable for everyone. This means building accessibility into your regular workflow, not treating it as a one-time task.
- If you discover a non-accessible item, notify the person or office responsible for creating it.
- If you are notified that something you created is not accessible, remediate it within two weeks.
- Regularly review your existing materials to ensure they continue to meet accessibility standards.
Taking timely action helps reduce risk and ensures that UT San Antonio’s community members are not excluded from critical information or services. Accessibility is about more than compliance — it is about people. It ensures that students, faculty, staff and community members of all abilities can fully participate in the life of the university.
By making accessibility part of the university’s practices, UT San Antonio’s commitment to excellence will be strengthened —and moments like the one shared by McGuire will be the standard, not the exception.
