How to bolster government website compliance with ADA Title II accessibility standards

If your government website has error messages, your concerns should be twofold: user frustration and violation of civil rights.

The Department of Justice's recent ADA Title II guidance sets clear standards for government website compliance: All digital services must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by April 2026 (or 2027 for smaller jurisdictions).

You already scan for broken links and JavaScript errors. Now, it's time to apply that same rigor to accessibility testing. Early detection and repairs of accessibility barriers prevent them from becoming major roadblocks later. The key is integrating these checks into your existing development process.

Two years sounds generous until you factor in development cycles, testing phases, and deployment windows. Smart engineering teams are already turning accessibility guidelines into technical specifications; the rest are counting down to compliance crunch time.

The clock is ticking. That means your engineering team likely needs guidance on how to catch and fix every possible issue related to accessibility.

We’ve got just what’s needed. 

The short version of WCAG 

WCAG 2.1 Level AA isn't light reading (trust us, we've read it, multiple times). But for government web teams, these guidelines form the backbone of ADA compliance for websites.

The Justice Department landed on WCAG 2.1 AA as the technical standard for a reason . . . it works. These guidelines turn abstract accessibility requirements into testable technical specifications. Each success criterion comes with specific code requirements, making it possible to validate compliance programmatically.

ADA Title II mandates that all government digital services must be accessible to people with disabilities. “All digital services” extends far more than websites to cover mobile apps, PDFs, video streams, and online forms.

For your development team, web accessibility breaks down into four key principles:

1. Perceivable means users can process your content regardless of how they access it. In practice? Your images need alt text, your videos need captions, and your fancy JavaScript animations need non-visual alternatives.
2. Operable requires every interface element to work with any input method. Mouse clicks, keyboard strokes, voice commands, screen taps . . . your UI needs to handle them all gracefully.
3. Understandable demands clear, consistent interfaces. Those clever micro-interactions your design team loves?  Like slide-out menus that only appear on hover, animated form validations that fade away too quickly, or notification badges that silently update?They’d better make sense to everyone, including users who can't see your carefully crafted visual cues or rely on keyboard navigation.
4. Robust ensures your code plays nicely with assistive technologies. Your latest JavaScript framework might look slick, but it needs to output standard HTML that screen readers can parse.

These principles translate into specific technical requirements; some straightforward (proper heading structure), others complex (managing focus states in single-page applications). Local government sites typically struggle most with document accessibility and multimedia content. Fixing these high-impact issues first gives you the biggest accessibility wins.

How to audit your site (before the DOJ does)

Here's the uncomfortable truth about accessibility testing: Automated scans catch barely 40 percent of WCAG issues. The rest? They require human eyes and systematic manual testing. But before you panic about manually checking every page, know that there’s a practical audit process that works.

Start with automated scans; they catch the obvious stuff fast. Website accessibility compliance tools flag missing alt text, color contrast issues, and broken ARIA labels. But real accessibility testing goes deeper.

Government sites typically fail on three fronts:

1. PDFs that screen readers can't parse (think permit applications and tax forms)
2. Focus states in single-page applications (especially custom JavaScript widgets like dropdown menus, modal dialogs, auto-complete search boxes, and tabbed interfaces that often trap keyboard focus or fail to properly announce changes to screen readers)
3.  Dynamic content that assistive technology misses (looking at you, auto-updating data tables)

Your audit checklist should prioritize high-traffic, high-impact pages:

• Pages with sensitive citizen data
• Key transaction flows (bill payments, permit applications)
• Emergency information pages
• Frequently accessed forms and documents
• Navigation systems and search interfaces

Security checkpoint: Alt text and PDF remediation need extra care with sensitive data. Keep SSNs, medical records, and financial details secure by testing every accessibility fix with both screen readers and security tools. Always verify that PDF security settings stay intact during updates.

Siteimprove's accessibility tools turn an overwhelming task into a manageable one. Rely on it to:

• Scan your entire site automatically
• Prioritize issues by impact and difficulty
• Track fixes over time
• Generate compliance documentation

But here's what makes smart teams successful: They build testing into their regular workflows. Instead of massive quarterly audits, they run focused checks during each sprint that catch issues while they're small and fixable.

So, document everything (because proving compliance efforts matters as much as the fixes themselves). And track what you test, what you find, and how you fix it. This documentation becomes your shield if anyone questions your accessibility efforts.

Pro tip: Build your audit schedule around your resources. Small teams might focus on testing one section per sprint, while larger organizations can parallel-track multiple areas. Consistent progress beats sporadic perfection.

Fix accessibility issues (without rebuilding your entire site)

Found accessibility problems? Before you panic and start rewriting thousands of lines of code, know this: Most federal websites fail the same web accessibility checks. And according to legal requirements, your fixes need to be systematic and documented.

Here's your technical roadmap for achieving ADA compliance, prioritized by impact:

The trick? Focus on quick wins first. Your web content must meet specific technical standards, and every official government organization faces the same challenges.

Here's your priority list:

1. Fix show-stopping barriers first (broken forms, keyboard traps)
2. Address high-visibility issues (homepage navigation, essential transactions)
3. Improve frequently used content (popular PDFs, common widgets)
4. Build accessibility into your component library to prevent future issues

Your development team owns the technical fixes, but they shouldn't work in isolation. Content creators need to provide proper alt text and clear headings. QA needs to verify fixes with actual assistive technology. And everyone needs to understand why each fix matters.

Remember: Small improvements add up. You don't need to fix everything at once, but you must show steady progress toward full compliance. The DOJ wants to see effort and improvement, not overnight perfection.  With Siteimprove’s Accessibility tools, you can watch your Accessibility score go up as you make improvements, which can be gratifying for an entire team.

Keep your site accessible (not just compliant)

Getting your site to meet government website compliance standards is step one. Keeping it that way? That's where most teams stumble. Web accessibility isn't a one-time fix, but rather an ongoing process, just like content updates.

Think of ADA compliance like code quality: It degrades every time someone pushes changes without proper checks. That new emergency alert banner? It needs keyboard controls. Those updated PDF forms? They need proper tags. That slick marketing carousel? It better work with screen readers.

Smart government teams build accessibility checkpoints into their content workflow:

But here's what makes this work: Accessibility champions who know WCAG by heart and reinforce the “why” behind every requirement. They review content plans, advise on technical solutions, and keep teams updated as standards change (looking at you, WCAG 3.0, which is in development with no known release date).

Your documentation strategy matters too. Each accessibility review should generate:

• Test results from automated and manual checks
• Details of issues found and fixed
• Timeline of improvements made
• Evidence of ongoing monitoring

Because if the DOJ asks about your digital services, you'll need more than just clean code — you'll need proof of ongoing accessibility compliance.

Pro tip: Set quarterly accessibility reviews for technical compliance and user success rates. Track how people use your site with assistive technology. The insights often reveal issues your automated tests missed.

Make accessibility happen (without missing critical issues)

Your digital accessibility team already juggles tight deadlines, shifting priorities, and constant content updates. Sure, software tools can spot syntax errors in seconds. But humans discover how your site truly performs with assistive technology.

Here's how Siteimprove combines automated and manual testing:

Our certified accessibility testers evaluate your site using:

• Keyboard-only navigation tests
• Screen reader compatibility checks
• Browser plugin assessments
• Real-world usability verification

They’re perfect for government teams who need to prove compliance (because automated scans alone won't satisfy DOJ requirements).

Pro tip: Document which accessibility issues automation missed. This data refines your testing process and justifies resources for manual reviews.

Two people, 12,000 PDFs: How the City and County of Denver cracked the compliance ode

When the City and County of Denver's web team first came to us, they were looking at brutal numbers: Two administrators. 6,000 web pages. 12,000 PDFs. Zero automation.

After deploying Siteimprove's Accessibility tools, Denver saw terrific results:

• Accessibility score: Up 32 percent
• Quality assurance: From failing to 94/100
• Content fixes: 140 authors now spot and fix their own issues
• Digital presence score: 25 percent improvement

This simple change now saves Denver’s web team about eight hours (an entire day) every month. How? Because Siteimprove automates scans to catch missing alt tags, broken links, and PDF issues before content goes live.

Time to make your site work for everyone

The path to gov website compliance isn't complicated. It requires systematic effort. Start with an accessibility audit, fix your highest-impact issues, and build checks into your development workflow.

Remember: April 2026 might sound distant, but bringing your digital services up to ADA standards takes time.