Accessibility is the Law

DOJ Ruling – Effective April 2024 | Enforced April 2026

What’s Changing?

• New DOJ Ruling requires compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA
• Applies to all higher education institutions

What’s Covered

• Canvas Content: pages, videos, files, images, assignments, discussions, quizzes
• Instructor Content: slides, readings, documents, posted online materials
• Publisher and Digital Content: e-books, case studies, test banks, interactive tools

What Does Accessibility Mean?

• Perceivable: Alternatives for images, audio, video (captions, alt text)
• Operable: Keyboard-friendly navigation
• Understandable: Clear layout, readable text, plain language
• Robust: Works with assistive technologies (screen readers, magnifiers) must meet accessibility standards.

Why It Matters

• It’s the law: Compliance avoids legal risk
• Inclusive learning: Supports students with disabilities and learning differences
• Better for everyone: Clear design helps all learners

What Faculty & Staff Can Do Now

• Clean up Canvas files and delete unused files
• Add alt-text and captions to images/figures
• Use headings and styles for structure in documents and Canvas pages
• Provide captions and transcripts for video/audio
• If you create videos with eLDIG or the RIIT Group, captions are handled for you
• Zoom recordings auto-caption when saved to Kaltura
• Check documents and slides for readability and contrast
• Ask publishers and vendors if their materials meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards

Support & Resources

• Penn State’s Accessibility Website | DOJ Ruling Resources
• Tools: Anthology Ally in Canvas, Microsoft Accessibility Checker, Adobe Acrobat checker, Equidox PDF Remediation
• Canvas Accessibility: Canvas Accessibility page | Ally Instructor Quickstart Guide

Download Accessible PDF

This in-depth video shows you how to fix the most common accessibility errors in PDFs using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

• Video transcript
• Video Summary

This brief video shows you how to fix the most common accessibility errors in PowerPoint.

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary

This brief video shows you how to fix the most common accessibility errors in PowerPoint.

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary
• The direct link to the alt-text generator mentioned in the video is: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-OeMRwWONc-image-description-specialist.
• An alternate alt-text generator: ASU Alt Text Generator

This brief video shows you how to fix the most common accessibility errors in Microsoft Word documents.

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary
• The direct link to the alt-text generator mentioned in the video is: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-OeMRwWONc-image-description-specialist.
• An alternate alt-text generator: ASU Alt Text Generator

This brief video shows you how to fix accessibility errors in Canvas pages, announcements, and discussions.

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary

This brief video shows you how to fix color contrast and alt text errors directly in Canvas

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary
• The direct link to the alt-text generator mentioned in the video is: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-OeMRwWONc-image-description-specialist.
• An alternate alt-text generator: ASU Alt Text Generator

Most accessibility issues are not ‘fixable’ directly in Anthology Ally, but a few are. The short video below will walk you through what you can do now, using the Ally tool.

Resources

• Video transcript
• Video Summary
• The direct link to the alt-text generator mentioned in the video is: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-OeMRwWONc-image-description-specialist.
• An alternate alt-text generator: ASU Alt Text Generator

• Go through the “Files” area in Canvas and delete any files that are not currently being used in your course. You can use other, non-Canvas platforms like OneDrive, Sharepoint, or Google Drive to store old/unused content.
• Go through your course and delete any Canvas pages that will no longer be used.