University of Maryland Digital Accessibility Interim Guidelines

The purpose of this document is to provide interim guidelines on digital accessibility as the University of Maryland prepares for the implementation of new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. Ensuring digital accessibility is not only a legal requirement but also an integral part of the university’s mission and strategic plan. It reflects the University of Maryland’s commitment to ensuring that all members of our community can fully engage in the university’s programs, services, and activities.

This document was developed by the Digital Accessibility Advisory Committee (DAAC), established in August 2025 and charged with creating a campus-wide plan to align with the University of Maryland Accessible Technology Policy. Until the DAAC finalizes this plan, anticipated in March 2026, this interim guidance offers practical steps and resources to help units begin their digital accessibility journey.

Digital accessibility is a shared responsibility and an evolving process. We invite all academic and administrative units to review this guidance, explore available tools and resources, and begin to take immediate, meaningful steps to make the university’s digital environments more inclusive and accessible to everyone.
 

1. Establish unit liaisons.
   1. To coordinate digital accessibility efforts across campus, all deans and vice presidents have been asked to designate a Senior Point of Contact (POC) for digital accessibility within their units. These POCs will share key guidance and resources from the central committee, coordinate accessibility initiatives within their colleges or divisions, and serve as primary liaisons to the Division of Information Technology (DIT) Digital Accessibility Team.
   2. Academic and administrative units are encouraged to appoint unit-level liaisons for specific digital areas, such as websites, teaching and learning, IT procurement, and marketing and communications, to ensure that accessibility practices are embedded across all aspects of their digital operations.
   3. Units should ensure that this role is recognized as an integral component of the staff or faculty member’s assigned workload, or that an overload is assigned when appropriate.
       
2. Learn about digital accessibility.
   1. Review the interim University of Maryland Accessible Technology Policy. The policy is aligned with the ADA and requires that all university digital services, programs, and content be accessible to individuals with disabilities. This includes websites, online services, instructional materials, mobile apps, social media, and other digital resources.
   2. Learn the 6 essential steps to digital accessibility.
   3. Encourage faculty and staff to include digital accessibility training as part of their professional development and to review guidelines in the following areas:
      1. Teaching and Learning: Digital Accessibility Guide for Instructors
      2. Research: Digital Accessibility Best Practices for Researchers
      3. Social Media: Accessibility Social Media Guidelines
      4. Websites: Accessibility Guidelines for Web Content
          
3. Start an inventory of digital content.
   1. Creating an inventory of your unit’s digital content is an essential step. An accurate inventory allows each unit to understand the scope of its digital environment, identify high-impact assets, and prioritize remediation and improvement efforts. The inventory should include all digital assets that your unit owns, manages, or maintains, such as websites, instructional content, multimedia, documents, mobile and web applications, social media accounts, and other assets that you own or manage.
   2. Units are encouraged to conduct unit-wide inventories coordinated by leadership or designated accessibility liaisons.
       
4. Clean up outdated content.
   1. Review and remove outdated digital content (e.g., websites, documents, videos, etc.) or make a plan to decommission old material.
   2. Instructors may use tools such as TidyUP for the ELMS-Course to remove documents and pages that are not in active use.

5. Prioritize efforts with available resources. Senior leaders in academic and administrative units have the responsibility and autonomy to establish areas of priority within colleges and divisions, guided by the following prioritization considerations:
   1. Focus on new content first. By requiring accessibility for new web pages, websites, course content, project documents, and purchases, units can establish an inclusive foundation and gradually extend improvements to existing digital content over time.
   2. Websites
      1. Site type, audience, and purpose.
      2. High-traffic and public-facing websites.
   3. Instructional content
      1. Public-facing (Open learning, MOOCs) free courses.
      2. High-enrollment, major-required, and/or general education courses. For example, courses with 100+ or 200+ students that meet both major and general education requirements.
      3. Fully online courses, followed by blended and face-to-face courses with available online content.
         1. The instructor or unit that owns and manages online instructional content in ELMS-Canvas or other external platforms is responsible for ensuring accessibility, including any necessary remediation, replacement, or modification of the original content. The Accessibility and Disability Service (ADS) Office will continue to provide accommodations for students registered with their office.
         2. The Web Accessibility Link will be added to ELMS-Canvas so that any student or instructor can report accessibility issues or request content in an accessible format.  
         3. Instructors should continue to apply their pedagogical strategies and make supporting materials, such as lecture slides, videos, and documents, available in ELMS-Canvas. Following the detailed prioritization guidelines in the instructor guide, accessibility efforts should start with essential, reusable materials, using a tiered approach to ensure steady progress and focus on content with the greatest impact on student learning. In summary:
            1. Priority should be given to instructor-created content like syllabi, assignment guidelines, required readings and videos, and key assessments, as these are easier to improve using built-in accessibility checkers in ELMS-Canvas, Microsoft Word, and Adobe Acrobat. Common issues to address include the six essential steps: headings, links, alternative text, tables, lists, and color contrast.
            2. Lower priority should be given to temporary or optional materials, such as one-time lecture recordings, class-specific slides, or enrichment resources. Complex materials that require specialized expertise, such as scanned PDFs, mathematical or scientific content, music notation, foreign language text, or detailed visuals, should be remediated after priority content or upon request.
         4. Instructors using non-UMD approved learning management systems, external platforms, or personal websites to deliver course content are encouraged to transition to ELMS-Canvas, the university-supported and accessible platform for course delivery.
   4. Social media
      1. High-impact social media content (e.g., emergency alerts and safety notices, critical university updates such as deadlines or policy changes, public event announcements, and high-engagement posts).

6. Develop a long-term plan to evaluate and improve the accessibility of existing content gradually over time.
   1. Apply the 6 essential steps for all new content created (HTML pages on websites and ELMS-Canvas, documents, videos, emails, social media posts, marketing, etc.).
   2. Staff and faculty accountable for managing websites should:
      1. Use Siteimprove to support the evaluation and remediation of websites.
      2. Review the digital accessibility evaluation guidelines for websites.
   3. Instructors can use the Ally Accessibility Tool to improve the accessibility of ELMS-Canvas content.
   4. Faculty and staff can request assistance at itaccessibility@umd.edu. 
       
7. Ensure accessibility of third-party tools, web, and mobile applications used to conduct business.
   1. All IT-related acquisitions must complete the Software Risk Management (SRM) assessment before purchase. This process ensures security, privacy, and accessibility risks are addressed, contracts are reviewed for compliance, and solutions align with UMD’s IT infrastructure. Contact the SRM team at software-risk-mgmt@umd.edu for details on how to get started.
   2. The University of Maryland Procurement Office requires the IT Accessibility Addendum between the seller and the University of Maryland to be incorporated into the contract and apply to the seller's deliverables as defined in the addendum document.
       
8. Ensure that the disabled community can request accessible content and share feedback.
   1. Building digital accessibility into our operations is a journey. We recognize that some digital environments may still present barriers, and these may not be known by the faculty or staff who manage the content. It is strongly recommended that:
      1. All university web pages (newly designed or legacy), including course content sites, third-party tools, web and mobile applications, add the “Web Accessibility” link (https://www.umd.edu/web-accessibility) in the footer or any visible location and link to a common institutional web page. Ensuring that every university digital platform includes this link and statement helps create a consistent, transparent, and welcoming pathway for users with disabilities to request accessible content and share feedback.
          
9. Document progress.  
   1. Colleges and divisions should begin documenting the steps they are taking until further guidance is provided. Examples of documentation may include action items such as minutes of meetings held, inventory documentation, plans and timelines developed, a list of staff/instructors who attended training sessions, or accessibility improvements completed; these can be recorded in meeting agendas, minutes, project plans, or progress reports.
   2. Faculty and staff are encouraged to include digital accessibility training, along with the efforts they have undertaken to make digital content accessible, as part of the faculty annual report and staff PRD accomplishments.

• Division of IT Digital Accessibility Office: Services, tools, training and consultation
• Teaching and Learning Transformation Center: Consultations for faculty
• Belonging & Community: ADA compliance guidance
• Contact the DIT Digital Accessibility team at itaccessibility@umd.edu for assistance.
• Contact the ADA coordinator to request guidance on compliance and exceptions to the policy.
• Contact the Social Media Team at social@umd.edu for questions about social media guidelines.

These are interim guidelines, and updates will be provided on an ongoing basis to reflect evolving campus guidance, standards and best practices.

• October 20, 2025 — Approved by the Digital Accessibility Committee
• October 22, 2025 — Guidelines published at accessibility.umd.edu/digital-accessibility-guidelines