IT colleagues,
In April of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division passed new rules governing the accessibility of web content and mobile applications provided by State and Local Governments, which stands in addition to the requirements for desktop applications already in place under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Indiana Code 4-13. 1-3. Indiana University is required to comply with these new rules, which will take effect on April 24, 2026.
We are writing to help ensure you are aware of these coming changes and to share that the Assistive Technology and Accessibility Centers and the Digital Inclusion Office are here to assist with navigating these new rules, especially as it relates to reviewing tools for accessibility prior to purchase. For any tools that are flagged as requiring an accessibility review, your constituents will receive instructions on how to complete our intake form. Your constituents should submit once they have acquired a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) known as an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) from the supplier.
If needed, we may contact you once your request is received and ask you to obtain a Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT) from the supplier as well. To learn more about the review process, we recommend checking out Product Accessibility Review (PAR) quick reference guide for requesters.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at atac@iu.edu for clarification.
–IT Community Partnerships on behalf of Assistive Technology and Accessibility Centers