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How Adobe can help your institution meet the DOJ’s accessibility mandate

  • Writer: Gustavo Yamasaki
    Gustavo Yamasaki
  • 2 days ago
  • 3 min read
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In a recent poll of 181 higher education faculty and staff, Adobe found that only 2% feel fully prepared to meet the US Department of Justice’s 2026 PDF accessibility mandate. When asked about their biggest challenges in achieving document accessibility compliance:


  • 37% cited time and staffing constraints

  • 27% cited limited budget or resources

  • 17% cited a lack of internal expertise


Read on to learn more about the mandate and see how Adobe can help your institution meet its compliance deadline using Adobe Acrobat solutions.



Understanding the mandate


In April 2024, the DOJ issued a mandate requiring public entities like universities and government agencies to ensure that all their web content and mobile apps meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards. This means that websites and documents like PDFs must be accessible to people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers or other assistive technologies.


The compliance deadlines depend on the size of the organization:


  • Entities serving more than 50,000 people must comply by April 24, 2026.

  • Smaller organizations have until April 26, 2027.


Not only are the timelines tight, but the potential consequences of failure to comply are also steep. They include lawsuits, legal fees, and financial penalties of up to $75,000 for first violations and $150,000 for repeat offenses.


Institutions that don’t meet the mandate also face potential damage to their reputations as well as disengagement from students and other members of their communities.



The value of accessible PDFs


PDF accessibility is critical for ensuring that your students, faculty, staff, and others who engage with your institution have equal access to information.


As Amazon described it in a recent AWS blog post, PDF accessibility delivers the following benefits:


  • Enhanced usability for everyone — Accessible PDFs benefit a wide range of users, not just those with disabilities. Features like clear document structure, alternative text for images, and proper tagging can make PDFs easier for everyone to navigate and understand.

  • Better performance and engagement — When PDFs are designed with accessibility in mind, they become more user-friendly and intuitive for all readers. This can enhance the overall user experience and engagement with the content.

  • Increased efficiency and effectiveness — As technology and user needs evolve, accessible PDFs are more likely to remain usable and relevant over time. Implementing an in-house solution can be quicker and more cost-effective for public organizations, saving them and their constituents time and money down the line.


Adobe solutions for PDF remediation


Adobe offers tools that can help your institution bring documents into compliance with the accessibility mandate. These include:


  • Adobe PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API — Can be applied at scale for large backlogs of untagged PDFs. The API’s automatic tagging provides accurate results for heading levels, reading order, complex lists, links, references, and tables. Screen reader users benefit significantly from the improved heading levels for navigation.

  • Adobe PDF Extract API — Automatically extracts content and structural information from your PDF documents (native or scanned) and outputs it in a structured format. The output also captures information like natural reading order and layout of elements on each page.


In one success story, The Ohio State University (OSU) used the Auto-Tag and Extract APIs in combination with AI to tag and add alt text to its millions of legacy PDFs. Compared to manual remediation, the solution reduced costs and time from $1–$4 per page and hours per document to cents per page and seconds to minutes per document.


“We weren't going to be able to scale to meet the accessibility requirement without this solution,” said Cory Tressler, Assistant Dean, Technology & Digital Programs University Libraries, The Ohio State University. “We didn’t have the financial backing or enough trained employees. So we’re leaning into this heavily, and we’re really excited about the results so far. Not only are we meeting the needs of students with disabilities, but we’re potentially meeting the needs of all students with new forms of content delivery.”


Start your document accessibility journey today


While PDF accessibility remediation can be a major undertaking, Adobe is here to help your institution make its wealth of information and resources usable for everyone on campus and beyond.


 
 
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