City Department on Disability outlines plan to meet DOJ web and mobile accessibility rule

The Department on Disability told a City council committee that the U.S. Department of Justice's new Americans with Disabilities Act guidance requires Los Angeles departments to bring websites and mobile applications into conformity with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 A and AA.

"WCAG 2.1 conformance criteria level A and AA" was cited by Ali Everett as the technical standard the city must meet, and Stephen Simon, general manager of the Department on Disability, said the city has a compliance deadline of April 24, 2026. Simon and Everett described examples of required changes — color contrast, keyboard navigation, image descriptions for screen readers, and captioning for videos — and said departments must designate accessibility leads and post a citywide accessibility link.

Implementation will be department‑led: the memo issued to department heads requires each department to report progress to the Department on Disability by March 23, 2026, and to demonstrate remediation by April 24. Departments with limited in‑house web capacity may use existing bench contracts or submit ITA 'snow' tickets for technical assistance, the presenters said. The presenters also recommended building procurement language to hold vendors accountable for accessibility requirements.

Council members pressed for concrete examples of how social media posts, photos and prerecorded videos should be labeled and captioned; presenters pointed to on‑demand trainings and a resource page the Department on Disability circulated to council offices. The committee voted to note and file the report; the clerk recorded three ayes and the item was filed.

Next steps: departments must incorporate accessibility work into their budget processes and report progress to the Department on Disability by the March reporting deadline. Technical assistance and bench contractors are expected to be available for offices that lack dedicated web teams.