Why Website Accessibility Belongs in Your 2027 Planning

AI Summary

Website accessibility deadlines in 2027 and 2028 require specific government entities and organizations receiving HHS financial assistance to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Meanwhile, WCAG 3 remains a draft with no compliance deadline. This blog explains the differences, highlights accessibility areas marketers should review, and outlines practical steps to identify barriers and plan improvements.

Have you ever struggled to navigate a website, complete an online form, or easily find the information you needed? For people with disabilities, an inaccessible website can make those tasks difficult or impossible.

Website accessibility means making sure people with disabilities can access, navigate, and interact with your website. For example, someone might use a screen reader to explore your services, navigate a form using a keyboard, or rely on captions to understand a video.

As a marketer, these experiences directly connect to the goals behind your content. Can visitors understand your offer? Is it easy to reach out and request more information? Is booking an appointment a simple process? Accessibility barriers can prevent people from taking the necessary next steps that turn web visits into conversions.

As you plan for 2027, there are important developments to consider. Specific website and mobile app accessibility deadlines are approaching for certain government entities and organizations receiving federal health funding. Meanwhile, WCAG 3, the next major version of the accessibility guidelines, is in the works.

So what’s changing in 2027, and what does your marketing team need to know? 

What Accessibility Deadlines Are Approaching in 2027?

Two federal rules have set web and mobile app accessibility deadlines to begin in 2027:

1. ADA Title II web accessibility rule for state and local governments
2. HHS Section 504 accessibility rule for organizations receiving HHS financial assistance

Web content and mobile apps that fall under the rule requirements will need to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. Each rule has its own compliance timeline, depending on the government’s population or the HHS funding recipient’s employee count.

Even if these deadlines do not apply to your organization, WCAG 2.1 Level AA provides a useful benchmark for improving digital accessibility. Reviewing your content, forms, navigation, and user interface against accessibility guidelines can help identify barriers that prevent people from using your site. 

What Is WCAG 2.1 Level AA?

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Version 2.1 addresses accessibility barriers such as poor text contrast, missing video captions, and features that cannot be used with a keyboard. Level AA conformance means meeting all applicable Level A and Level AA requirements.

WCAG provides the accessibility standard, while regulations specify which organizations must meet it and when. 

Government: ADA Title II

The Department of Justice’s rule generally requires state and local governments to ensure the web content and mobile apps they provide, including through outside vendors, meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

State and local governments with populations of 50,000 or more must comply by April 26, 2027. Those with populations below 50,000, along with special district governments, have until April 26, 2028.

The population threshold refers to the government population calculated under the rule, rather than website visitors or employee count. The Department of Justice extended these deadlines in April 2026. 

Healthcare: HHS Section 504

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ rule applies to recipients of HHS financial assistance. These can include hospitals, community health centers, and other health and human service providers.

Covered recipients with 15 or more employees must comply by May 11, 2027. Those with fewer than 15 employees have until May 10, 2028, to meet specified web content and mobile app accessibility requirements. 

HHS extended these deadlines in May 2026. Coverage depends on whether an organization receives HHS financial assistance, rather than simply operating in the healthcare industry. 

These deadlines apply to specific covered organizations, rather than every business. They concern meeting the specified WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements. Existing accessibility obligations may already apply before these dates. 

How WCAG 3 Will Affect Web Accessibility Guidelines

While approaching deadlines focus on WCAG 2.1 Level AA, another accessibility update is taking shape: WCAG 3. 

WCAG 3 remains a draft, and its requirements will change as development continues. The working group’s provisional schedule targets a Candidate Recommendation Snapshot in late 2027. This is a development milestone, not a compliance deadline for organizations.

What Is WCAG 3?

WCAG 3 aims to address more accessibility needs, including those of people with cognitive disabilities. It also explores different ways for organizations to measure accessibility and report improvements, both toward meeting requirements and exceeding them.

WCAG 2 vs. WCAG 3

While WCAG 3 builds on existing accessibility work, it introduces a different structure and approach to assessing whether requirements are met or not.

So what should your organization do now?

Following WCAG 2.2 now can help your organization improve accessibility today and may make the transition to WCAG 3 easier once the standard is finalized.

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What Marketing Teams Should Put on Their Accessibility Review List

Consider the journey people take after clicking your ad or opening your email. They understood enough to click, but if you lose them once you get them to your website or app, it could be due to accessibility issues.

Ask yourself: can users understand your offer, explore your content, and take the next step?

Use these areas as a starting point for accessibility conversations. 

Campaign Landing Pages & Navigation

Can visitors understand your offer and move forward?

• Page titles and headings: Use descriptive page titles and proper heading structure to organize content. Increasing font size or making text bold doesn’t automatically give users with a screen reader the same experience. 
• Links and CTAs: Use descriptive anchor text for hyperlinks so the desired destination or action is clear and understandable.
• Keyboard navigation: Your website should be functional from a touch screen, a mouse, and a keyboard. That means menus, buttons, and popups need to work for visitors using a keyboard, and visitors should be able to see which element has keyboard focus as they move through the page.

Forms

Can visitors complete and submit your forms without frustration?

Consider the process the next time you fill out a form, including what happens when you make a mistake or miss a field.

• Fields: Does every field have a descriptive label that remains available while someone enters information?
• Instructions: Are required fields clearly identified, and are formatting instructions easy to understand?
• Error messages: Can visitors identify the error and understand how to correct it?
• Form controls: Can visitors complete and submit the form using a keyboard and assistive technology?

Clear instructions and helpful error messages can make it easier for visitors to finish that inquiry, register for that event, or request that appointment. 

Think: more accessible forms can lead to more potential conversions.

Images & Graphics 

Can visitors access key information without relying on images or color alone?

Consider this checklist when reviewing graphics and visual elements published on your website:

• Appropriate alt text: Describe meaningful image content. Complex charts may also need a more detailed text explanation. 
• Text within graphics: Make essential information, such as dates, pricing, and instructions, available as text rather than only within an image. If an image fails to load, users still need a way to access that information.
• Color contrast: Check that text and important controls, such as buttons, have sufficient contrast against their backgrounds.
• Additional visual cues: Pair color with another indicator. For example, identify required fields with text rather than red alone.
• Text resizing: Check that visitors can enlarge text without losing information or access to features.

Video & Audio

Can people understand your message if they can’t hear the audio or see the video?

• Videos with speech or meaningful audio: Provide accurate captions, including important sounds. Always check automatically generated captions for errors.
• Podcasts and other audio content: Provide a transcript.
• Videos with essential visual information: Assess whether audio description is needed to explain information that is not communicated aloud.
• Moving banners, carousels, and autoplay content: Check that appropriate controls are available to pause or stop movement. 
• Plan these actions during production so they’re ready for when your content goes live.

PDFs & Downloadable Content

Can visitors read and navigate your brochure, report, or downloadable guide using assistive technology?

Check:

• Document headings and structure
• The order of your content
• Alt text for meaningful images
• Descriptive links and accessible form fields, where applicable

Even if your PDF looks good, test it for accessibility. 

Third-Party Tools

Can visitors complete a task using tools connected to your website?

Appointment booking tools, event registration platforms, chat widgets, and embedded forms should all be included in an accessibility review. Ask vendors about their accessibility features and testing, and internally test the process your visitors go through.

These review prompts can help your team identify critical barriers, but they should not be considered the only areas of accessibility to review. A more thorough accessibility assessment is needed to evaluate a website against all applicable requirements. 

How to Turn Accessibility Awareness Into a Practical Plan

Once you understand where accessibility improvements are needed, decide where to start and who should be involved. A clear plan can help your team make progress and keep work manageable, especially with upcoming changes in requirements.

1. Identify your organization’s requirements. Work with your legal or compliance team to understand which requirements and deadlines apply. Use those findings to establish your timeline.
2. List key content and tools. Take inventory of important pages, forms, PDFs, videos, and third-party tools. Include campaign landing pages that may sit outside your main website navigation. 
3. Arrange an accessibility audit. Work with accessibility specialists to assess your content and website functionality through automated checks and manual testing. 
4. Focus on critical barriers first. Prioritize issues that prevent visitors from accessing essential information or completing tasks, such as requesting care, submitting an application, or booking an appointment. Schedule the remaining improvements so they continue moving forward.
5. Assign ownership. Give each improvement an owner and a target date. 
6. Add accessibility checks to publishing. Build reviews into your process for publishing pages, uploading documents, adding videos, and introducing new tools. Include updates to existing content, too.

Accessibility requires ongoing attention. As your content and tools change, regular reviews can help your team identify new barriers and maintain improvements made while staying up to date with the latest requirements. 

What to Take Away for 2027

There’s a lot to keep track of, but these five points can help you decide where to focus:

• Know your deadlines. The ADA Title II and HHS Section 504 rules set deadlines for 2027 and 2028 for specific government entities and organizations receiving HHS financial assistance to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
• Keep an eye on WCAG 3. It is still a draft. The proposed 2027 milestone is part of developing the standard, not a deadline for your organization to meet it.
• Prepare with current guidance. Meeting WCAG 2.2 now can help you prepare for WCAG 3. You still need to meet any requirements that apply to your organization today.
• Follow the full visitor journey. Review landing pages, forms, images, videos, downloads, and third-party tools. Use the questions in this blog to start the conversation with your team.
• Keep accessibility in your workflow. Fix barriers, give each improvement an owner, and check accessibility as you publish and update content regularly.

As a marketer, you put time and effort into reaching people. Accessibility helps ensure they can use what you’ve created and take the next steps with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Every Business Have a Website Accessibility Deadline in 2027?

No. The deadlines outlined in this blog apply to state and local governments under ADA Title II and organizations receiving financial assistance from HHS under Section 504. Other accessibility requirements may still apply to your business, so check what your organization needs to meet.

What Is the Difference Between WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.2, and WCAG 3?

WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 are published website accessibility standards. The ADA Title II and HHS Section 504 rules require WCAG 2.1 Level AA. WCAG 2.2 adds requirements to address more accessibility needs. WCAG 3 is still being developed, and its proposed 2027 milestone is a development target, not a compliance deadline.

Should My Organization Aim for WCAG 2.2?

W3C recommends meeting WCAG 2.2 as the best preparation for WCAG 3. It can help you address barriers now and may make a future transition easier. You’ll still need to meet the legal requirements that apply to your organization. 

Can an Automated Tool Tell Me Whether My Website Meets WCAG?

An automated tool can flag some issues, but it can’t give you the full picture. A thorough review also includes manual testing to check whether people can complete tasks on your website, such as navigating with a keyboard, using a screen reader, and submitting a form. An in-depth accessibility audit by an experienced team is recommended.

Should I Check PDFs, Videos, and Third-Party Tools for Accessibility?

Yes. Your review should include downloadable guides, videos, booking tools, and embedded forms. Visitors can encounter barriers in any of these, even when the rest of your website is accessible. Specific legal requirements and exceptions depend on the content and the rules that apply to your organization. 

Make Your Website Easier to Use for More Visitors

Can people access the information and services on your website? Whether you’re preparing for a deadline or checking how your site currently works for users, understanding accessibility barriers can help you decide where to focus your efforts.

At Citro, our content, design, and development teams work together to help you identify areas for improvement and put a plan into action. We’ll work with you and your technology partners to make your content and website easier to use.

Connect with us to discuss your website’s accessibility needs and how we can help.

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