ADA Title II compliance target date announced, resources available 

From: Office for Civil Rights Compliance and Prevention Education, Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies 

Virginia Tech is advancing an initiative aimed at achieving compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II, which mandates equal access for individuals with disabilities in all public services and programs. As part of this effort, the university rolled out a dedicated webpage providing essential resources to assist the university community in making digital accessibility a priority. 

Virginia Tech’s Office for Civil Rights Compliance and Prevention Education (CRCPE), in coordination with Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS), emphasize that all employees, including teaching faculty, are responsible for ensuring that the materials they create, share, or use are accessible to people of all abilities by April 24, 2026. This includes materials in all formats such as documents, websites, videos, and other media. 

For nearly a decade, Virginia Tech has promoted accessibility education and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL guides educational practices and ensures high-quality learning experiences by considering the needs of diverse learners and removing common learning barriers from the educational curriculum. While not eliminating the need for accommodations, when a course, application, or website is designed with UDL principles and best practices in mind, it will be more likely to meet the needs of most users from the beginning.  

The Title II resources page serves as a central hub for tools, training, and support to assist employees in meeting these obligations. Key features of the webpage include:

• An Overview of ADA Title II Compliance and Virginia Tech’s commitment: Clear guidelines on how ADA Title II impacts university practices and policies.  
• Accessibility Tools: Links to helpful tools such as accessibility checkers for websites, documents, and multimedia content. 
• Training Resources: Easy access to educational modules on accessibility standards and best practices for creating inclusive materials. 
  •  Self-paced digital accessibility training from Deque Systems and WebAIM is available to all students and employees. All courses are self-paced with no exams, and most take about an hour to complete. Finishing a course automatically awards learners a digital badge, making it easy to track progress.
  • Ten-minute training sessions provide quick, impactful lessons to help build a practice of everyday accessibility awareness. 
• FAQs: A collection of frequently asked questions to address common concerns regarding accessibility across university programs and services. 

Visit the Accessibility Portal or review the TLOS Digital Accessibility resource page to learn more. Contact 4Help.vt.edu with questions or to request support for training.