How Will You Use Extra Time to Get Your Citizen Experience Platforms Ready?
The clock is ticking for state and local governments with populations of 50,000 or more to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA Title II rule for web content and mobile applications, with WCAG 2.1 Level AA established as the required technical standard. The Justice Department extended the deadline to April 2027, providing an additional 12 months to attain the standard. But the direction is clear: accessibility is no longer a “website-only” initiative—it is a digital operations mandate.
Many public entities have already invested significantly in website accessibility and Section 508-aligned practices. The bigger—and often overlooked—question is: Are both your citizen communications and the content systems behind them accessible, governed, and compliant by design?
Because under ADA Title II, “web content” includes far more than web pages. It encompasses documents, records, correspondence, forms, and digital information made available through websites, portals, and applications. Even where limited exceptions apply, the long-standing requirement for effective communication remains. Accessibility must be operational across both content management and communications delivery.
What’s Changed—and Why Content and Communications Both Matter
The DOJ clarifies that public entities are responsible for ensuring accessibility across all public-facing digital services, including content delivered through vendors, contractors, and third-party platforms.
That means accessibility responsibility now spans:
- Enterprise content management systems that store and govern documents and records
- Citizen communications platforms that generate and deliver notices, letters, and statements
- Portals and applications where citizens access information and services
Accessibility is no longer a single project owned by a web team. It is an end-to-end requirement that connects content creation, content management, and communications delivery.
Five Practical Steps to Prepare for ADA Title II
1. Inventory Both Content Repositories and Citizen Communications
Start by identifying not only what you publish on your website, but also what lives inside your content management systems and what is delivered through communications workflows. This includes records, forms, notices, correspondence, PDFs, and portal content. DOJ guidance emphasizes understanding what content you provide and where it lives as a foundational step.
2. Prioritize High-Impact Content and Journeys
Agencies do not need to remediate everything at once. Focus first on high-volume and high-impact content—such as benefit notices, eligibility determinations, permits, and service updates—that are both stored in content repositories and delivered to citizens.
3. Standardize on WCAG 2.1 Level AA Across Content and Outputs
WCAG 2.1 Level AA applies to web content and mobile apps, but in practice it also drives requirements for documents and digital files. This includes tagged PDFs, logical reading order, accessible tables, meaningful headings, and alternative text—whether content is accessed in a portal or delivered as a communication.
4. Build Accessibility into Content Management and Production
Manual remediation may work for a small number of documents, but it does not scale. Sustainable compliance requires:
- Accessible content templates
- Automated transformation of legacy documents
- Centralized governance within content management systems
- Consistent accessibility in outbound communications
5. Establish Governance, Monitoring, and Oversight
Even agencies that feel confident today can encounter challenges without durable governance. Ongoing staff training, accessibility monitoring, vendor oversight, public feedback mechanisms, and policy updates are essential to long-term compliance across both content and communications.
How OpenText Supports End-to-End ADA Title II Readiness
OpenText helps agencies address ADA Title II requirements holistically—across content management, document accessibility, and citizen communications.
Manage Accessible Content at the Source
OpenText Content Management solutions, including OpenText™ Content Management for Government, help agencies centrally manage documents, records, and case files with strong governance and lifecycle controls. By managing content accessibility at the source, agencies reduce downstream remediation and ensure that content entering portals or communications workflows is compliant by design.
Transform Legacy Outputs into Accessible Communications
Many agencies still rely on legacy print streams and older templates for high-volume correspondence. OpenText Output Transformation Server enables agencies to convert legacy outputs into modern formats, including accessible PDF aligned to PDF/UA, supporting ADA and Section 508 compliance at scale.
Accelerate PDF and Document Remediation
For existing backlogs of documents stored in content repositories or published to the web, OpenText Document Accessibility helps standardize and accelerate remediation using automation and AI-assisted tagging—improving consistency while reducing manual effort.
Establish Enterprise-Wide Document Accessibility
OpenText’s Enterprise Document Accessibility approach supports personalization, testing, and governance across departments. This helps agencies move from reactive remediation to producing accessible content and communications by default.
Together, these capabilities allow agencies to treat accessibility as a program, not a patchwork of tools.
A Quick Readiness Check for Government Leaders
Consider whether your agency can confidently answer the following:
- Do we know how much citizen-facing content lives in our content management systems?
- Are our highest-volume communications accessible by design—not just remediated later?
- Can we automate accessibility across both stored content and outbound communications?
- Do we have governance to prove ongoing compliance, not last-minute fixes?
If any of these answers are unclear, now is the time to act.
Ready to Take the Next Step on ADA Title II?
Meeting ADA Title II requirements for digital accessibility—especially across both content management and citizen communications—requires more than one-off fixes. It requires the right strategy, the right technology, and a partner that understands public-sector complexity.
If you would like to discuss how OpenText can help your agency:
- Manage accessible content at the source
- Scale accessible document production and communications
- Reduce risk ahead of the April 2027 deadline
Connect with an OpenText government specialist today.
