The US Department of Justice (DOJ) added digital accessibility requirements to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for Minnesota’s state and local government entities. This new rule puts into writing practices that the DOJ has followed for decades. Our Update to ADA’s Title II series digs deeper into preparation and implementation resources for state and local governments as they work toward compliance.

In the article "Update to ADA’s Title II," we outlined what the new rule means for government staff and how to begin the accessibility journey. Today’s article focuses on how your team can understand your audit results, what actions to take next, and how to communicate your findings to leadership and other key partners.

First steps

By now, your organization has likely completed—or at least begun—a digital accessibility audit to assess current compliance. If the results show room for improvement, you're not alone. The odds are you have some work to do So, what’s next? Here’s how to move from assessment to action.

Get a policy in place

Any strategy that’s going to get your organization to incorporate digital accessibility practices into all your operations requires executive support. Having an organization-wide policy statement is key to getting buy-in and support from all staff.

Use that policy to state a shared vision for organization-wide accessibility.

Identify resources

Designate an organization-wide digital accessibility lead. Create a title such as Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO) or Chief Information Accessibility Officer (CIAO). Make this their sole function. If there isn’t enough funding at the start, then assign it to someone who leads a digital information and technology team.

Have that accessibility lead convene an accessibility team. Include the following skill sets:

• Procurement
• Website design/development
• Application development
• Communications
• Training and organization development
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
• ADA Coordinator

Scope

Policy approval can take time at some organizations. During that process, continue to move forward by creating a scope plan.

Set priorities. Use the audit data to identify your key challenges. Most likely it will include:

• Websites and its:
  • Digital documents, such as PDFs
  • Videos and other multimedia
  • Forms (both web-based and document-based)
• Mobile apps
• Web apps
• Software apps

Set short- and long-term goals. The ADA Title II deadline for most organizations is April 24, 2026. Consider the following questions as you plan:

• What needs to be done before then?
• What sites get the most traffic?
• What forms and documents are most frequently downloaded?
• What can you do now and what requires a rebuild?
• Examples to guide your planning:
  • Fixing existing sites or creating new page templates.
  • Updating the CSS or redesigning the entire site.
  • Using current tools or procuring a new content management system (CMS).

Note: You may need to tackle short- and long-term goals at the same time—for example, updating your current CMS to fix issues like color contrast while also planning for a full site redesign and rebuild.

Develop an accessibility communications plan

Tell everyone what is happening and how they can be involved.

• Communicate upward to managers and executives. Their support is essential for success. Keep them aware of goals, activities, and successes, even small wins.
• Communicate outward to co-workers, colleagues, and even the public. Everyone has a role in accessibility. Help them know their role and that their efforts matter.

In your plan, use multiple tools to reach different audiences. For example:

• Regular news bulletin to key stakeholders.
• Monthly bulletins to general employees and/or the public.
• Monthly or quarterly check-ins with management and other decision makers.

Future articles in this series

• Implementation: Begin to tackle high-priority issues. Determine who will handle the work. Set timelines and include retesting throughout the process.
• Make it ongoing: Build accessibility into your agency’s workflow from the beginning
• Recap & final resource guide: Gather all resources into one place, including links to each article in the series.

Next steps

This strategic planning aims to help organizations move from audit to action in their digital accessibility journey. Now with an idea of scope and action steps to take, you’ll need to create an implementation plan. We’ll talk more about this in next month’s newsletter.

Resources

A list of resources related to this second part.

• Conduct a self-audit (first part of this series)
• Minnesota’s 2010-2012 implementation toolkit
• Update to ADA’s Title II