The deadline that wasn't

As blog readers will know, April 24 - today - was supposed to be the deadline for converting all instructional materials to meet disability access standards.* But the deadline has been postponed one year. From Inside Higher Ed: 

Citing heavy administrative burdens for institutions, the government is giving colleges, universities and other public entities another year to comply with new federal accessibility guidelines designed to reduce the hurdles students with disabilities face in accessing increasingly complex information on web pages and mobile apps.

The Department of Justice “overestimated the capabilities (whether staffing or technology) of covered entities to comply with the rule in the time frames provided,” the department wrote in an interim final rule published to the Federal Register [last] Monday. “This [interim final rule] will lead to greater predictability and certainty as covered entities work towards accessibility of their websites” and “greater accessibility for individuals with disabilities.” ...

Though there are some exceptions for “archived” content, compliance with [the regulations meant] that every PDF file must be accessible to a screen reader, every video accompanied by captions and audio descriptions, every photograph coded with alternate text, and every sound clip paired with a transcript. All third-party platforms have to meet the guidelines, too...

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/04/coming-april-24th-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/12/coming-april-24th.html.