For many students, accessing course materials isn’t just about showing up to class. It’s about whether the material itself is designed to be usable in the first place.
For University of Georgia students like Ava Gilbert, a graduate student majoring in public administration in the School of Public and International Affairs, having accessible digital course content directly determines whether learning is even possible.
“As a student with ADHD, simple academic tasks such as reading can be incredibly difficult, and assistive technology such as text-to-speech is crucial to my academic success.” Gilbert said. “With about 1 in 4 people having some form of disability, accessibility affects a significant part of the UGA community. At a university of this size, designing digital content without barriers has an enormous impact.”
Removing obstacles for learning is at the heart of the University of Georgia’s digital accessibility efforts. Ahead of a federal rule that will take effect on April 26, 2027, and will require state entities to make all digital content accessible, UGA launched a campus-wide initiative that is now shaping how digital materials are created and maintained across the university. The effort includes training, campus tools and new ways to report digital accessibility barriers.
As coursework increasingly relies on digital platforms, inaccessible materials can create immediate and significant issues for students. When accessibility is missing, students may spend hours trying to access content instead of engaging with it.
“Accessibility isn’t just about ramps and captions. It’s about designing experiences that include everyone from the start,” Gilbert said.
Moving from reaction to design
Accessibility is the design of products, services, environments and systems to be usable by all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Under a new federal rule taking effect on April 26, 2027, all digital content and services — including websites, mobile applications and course content — must conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.
To help the university prepare for these requirements, the Digital Accessibility Services team in Enterprise Information Technology Services, UGA’s central IT department, has spent the past year developing resources and guidance for campus. The team launched Ally for Web and Ally for eLC, which are tools that scan websites and course content for accessibility issues and offer regular training and workshops for instructors and digital content creators. These resources are available through the Digital Accessibility Services Hub at dash.uga.edu.
Cody Bishop, IT manager for technology adoption and digital accessibility and leader of the team, said the goal is to move away from a reactive system — where students must request accommodations — and toward one where accessibility is built in from the start.
“No one is expecting perfection,” Bishop said. “The goal is simply for people to keep accessibility in mind as they create new digital content.”
Instead of trying to fix everything at once, Bishop encourages focusing on new and reused materials, where changes will have the greatest impact.
“A lot of people have in their mind that they have to fix everything today,” he said. “Which is impossible… The important thing is to start somewhere, because even one accessibility fix can benefit many users.”
Making digital content accessible can also support students and employees with temporary injuries, individuals navigating challenging environments such as noisy or low-visibility settings, people experiencing cognitive overload or fatigue, faculty and staff as they age and broader audiences engaging with UGA’s digital content.
Accessibility in the classroom
Tracy Rackensperger, a public service faculty member at the Center on Human Development and Disability, emphasized that accessibility benefits extend beyond students with disabilities. Providing captions, transcripts and accessible materials doesn’t just remove barriers, it improves learning for everyone.
“We all benefit from having different modalities of materials,” she said.
Rackensperger said accessible course content gives all students the ability to fully participate in class and has significant impacts on their success in college.
“Federal requirements set standards for digital content accessibility to ensure all students can reach their academic potential,” she said.
How UGA is advancing accessibility
With the federal compliance deadline approaching, UGA’s digital accessibility efforts continue to evolve. Moving forward, all new digital content is expected to meet accessibility standards, and the Digital Accessibility Services team will continue to offer training and tools to instructors and content creators through the coming semesters.
“It’s progress over time,” Bishop said.
Gilbert hopes the effort will bring about a broader change in how accessibility is understood — not as an extra step, but as part of the foundation of teaching and communication.
“As a third-generation UGA student, I grew up hearing family members talk about how accessibility at the university has improved over time. Being here now and helping spearhead this initiative is especially meaningful to me,” she said. “The mission of UGA is ‘To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.’ This mission is why digital accessibility is so important. When we remove digital barriers, we enable people who have historically been left out to learn, ask questions and participate fully in their public institution.”