Title II Digital Accessibility Support Update

February 10, 2026 News, Title II
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Dear Colleagues,

The University of Maine System and the University of Maine have both mobilized to develop strategies to understand and address Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This act requires institutions, such as public universities, to meet the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA by April 24, 2026 in the dissemination of digital resources, including: public websites, course content, communications, and more.

In June of 2024 the UMS launched a free asynchronous, self-paced, online course through the UMS Academy: Designing Accessible Digital Content. In October of 2025 the UMS updated this course to align it with a new sequence of three asynchronous, self-paced online  Micro-Credentials in Accessibility ($25 per person each for levels 1 and 2 followed by $100 for level 3).

UMS’s Title II working group issued a report on August 27, 2025 in which it made recommendations for achieving Title II compliance as well as highlighted challenges and concerns. It also shared resources and guides (available online at Accessibility Resources: Training & Assistance from the University of Maine System).

On December 19, 2025 the UMS made Ally, the accessibility validation tool, available to UMaine and integrated it with the System’s instance of the learning management system Brightspace. Included in the contract for Ally were three, two-hour Zoom training sessions for a maximum of 75 UMS faculty and staff. The Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning’s Faculty Support group began receiving requests for Ally technology support on December 30, 2025. (The UMS Academy course and UMS microcredential on accessibility do not include training in the use of Ally.)

In January of 2026 a new UMS Title II Implementation Team formed and created topical subgroups to address communications and the implementation of Ally.

In December of 2025 UMaine formed its own Title II Task Force under the leadership of Interim Provost Paquette. Members of the Task Force assess and support campus needs related to reaching compliance with WACG 2.1 AA. The Task Force communicated two times with the campus community in December of 2025, December, 1. 2025 and December 23, 2025, both of which included links to System and campus Title II resources. 

As a contributor to the Task Force, UMaine Digital Communications shared that it has focused on the WCAG guidelines for the past decade as part of maintaining and upgrading umaine.edu and machias.edu. As University sites continue to migrate to the new design in 2026, Digital Communications will audit and adjust content for compliance, and reduce the amount of public web content while increasing the use of Sharepoint and Digital Commons for content that the University will preserve as an archive for reference purposes.

CITL, another Task Force participant, has continued to expand its Accessibility and Inclusion in Teaching website, which includes:

  • Course accessibility checklists
  • Title II FAQ for Faculty
  • Small changes for big impacts
  • Accessible course documents by format
  • CITL’s accessible syllabus challenge (Title II Edition)
  • Core skills for accessible teaching spaces

Following a September 18, 2025 presentation on Title II with the Associate Deans, CITL has facilitated Title II discussions and workshops for nine colleges, academic units, or groups. CITL will continue these sessions throughout the spring 2026 semester.  

Task Force members have taken on the work of assessing currently used or licensed services and platforms for how they support Title II compliance. Where necessary, the group will develop guides for workflows which support the development of accessible content. Thus far, this list includes:

  • Resources accessed via Fogler Library, such as Inter Library Loan, as well as licensed databases and DVD holdings
  • AMP/Vital Source, as well as course materials accessed through the service
  • Ally
  • LaTeX
  • Gradescope
  • Screen Readers
    • Apple VoiceOver
    • Microsoft Narrator
    • NV Access NVDA
  • The capacity of various AI services to make accessible content, including UMS-provided Gemini

At this stage of the Title II effort, the most impactful work of the Task Force is the gathering of questions posed to it by members of the campus community and seeking resolutions to those questions. We will track the questions and responses here.

We encourage any member of the UMaine community who has questions or concerns about Title II compliance to reach out either to one of us or to a member of the Title II Task force. April 24, 2026 is the target for Title II compliance, but our goal is ongoing support of efforts to make a UMaine education accessible to all.

Sincerely,

Interim Provost Gabe Paquette and the UM Title II Task Force