Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Dana Healy, Chief Operations Officer for Tightrope Media Systems. Connect with Dana on LinkedIn.
What I’m reading: The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence
What I’m watching: Tiago Forte and Rachel Woods interview on AI Ops
What I’m listening to: Criminal
Avoid Legal Risk,
Stay Ahead of Deadlines,
and Put Your City in the Driver’s Seat
Quick Summary
Ahead of new DOJ ADA rule enforcement beginning in 2026, private lawsuits over inaccessible websites are already happening—and will likely increase after April 2026.
This guide isn’t about fear-mongering. It’s designed to keep you focused on a clear, calm, and impactful path forward.
You’ll learn how to:
- Begin taking a phased, realistic approach to WCAG 2.1 AA compliance that fits your team’s capacity.
- Prioritize what matters most and set up internal workflows to keep momentum going.
- Keep essential services and public information accessible to everyone—without taking content offline out of fear.
Legal Risk Is Real—But Panic Won’t Help
If your city website has missing captions, poor color contrast, or forms that refuse to cooperate with screen readers, you’re not alone. But thanks to new ADA rules finalized by the Department of Justice, depending on population, some public entities must comply with WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines as soon as April 24, 2026.
The lawsuits, however, aren’t waiting politely for that deadline. Residents have already filed complaints over inaccessible public portals that lock people out of critical services, and a federal judge in Louisiana recently reminded everyone that state and local governments can’t simply ignore web and mobile accessibility until 2026 rolls around.
Now for the good news: start making measurable progress now, and the April 2026 enforcement deadline is not only reachable but manageable. Even better, if your city does face a complaint along the way, showing that you’re already moving forward puts you on stronger legal footing:
- You’ll be working inside the same general compliance window courts and the DOJ usually set in settlement agreements. That makes it much harder for anyone to argue you’re dragging your feet.
- You’ll avoid the last-minute scramble. Planning, auditing, and fixing accessibility gaps isn’t something you knock out over a long weekend. Starting now spares you expensive legal headaches later and puts you in control of the timeline instead of being whipped around by it.
So, where do you begin?
Create a Plan, Not a Panic
Accessibility isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s a process. One that works best when it’s realistic, cross-functional, and well-documented. Here’s what that can look like:
- Assign ownership. Make sure someone (or a small team) is responsible for tracking accessibility efforts across departments.
- Create an inventory. List your digital assets—videos, websites, portals, forms—and flag what’s most public-facing. (More on that in the next section.)
- Phase your goals. For example, you don’t need to fix everything today. You might start with compliant video solutions in phase one, then move on to accessible forms in phase two.
- Document your progress. This can be a huge help when there is turnover on a team, and it’s also good to have on hand if you’re faced with a lawsuit or audit.
Prioritization—Picking What Matters Most
You don’t need a six-figure website overhaul or a citywide media audit to begin. What you do need is clarity and prioritization.
Step One: Identify Your Digital Front Doors
Start your preliminary audit with the obvious: the digital front doors everyone uses—the places where the legal and practical stakes are highest. This list often includes:
- City council meeting videos (live and on-demand)
- Official city websites and service portals
- Online forms, calendars, and agendas
A good rule of thumb: if it’s where your community shows up to participate, it’s where accessibility should start.
Step Two: Know Your Limits—and Outsmart Them
Before you fix anything, get brutally honest about capacity. Most cities don’t have a secret squad of developers just waiting to swoop in, so take stock:
- Who actually owns the website?
- Who’s wrangling forms, videos, and PDFs?
- Do they have bandwidth—or do you need outside help?
- Then, figure out which tasks can be streamlined, automated, or handed off:
- Automated scanners can catch easy wins (missing alt text, bad color contrast, broken form labels).
- Many CMS platforms already have built-in accessibility checks you’re not using.
- Vendors can take on bulk work—captioning, document remediation—so your team isn’t drowning. Get our list of Accessibility Questions for Vendors and RFP template here>
Ensure automated tools aren’t doing more harm than good. Beyond compliance, make sure you understand the resulting resident experience with the tools you’re implementing.
Also, look for solutions that reduce moving parts. Imagine replacing a patchwork of vendors and manual uploads with a two-step system that covers captions, audio descriptions, and transcripts all at once. That kind of consolidation can be the difference between a plan that sticks and one that implodes under its own weight.
The takeaway: Know where your team is maxed out, and invest in the right tools and partners to lighten the load.
Step Three: Stay Curious—and Flexible
Even the best accessibility plans will hit bumps. The trick is to stay curious instead of frustrated and build room to adapt:
Treat every issue you uncover as a chance to see how residents actually experience your digital services—and fix them.
Avoid rigid checklists. Technology changes, regulations evolve, and priorities shift. Your plan should, too.
Be ready for unexpected emotional attachments (and no, not the PDF kind). When we overhauled our branding and ran our products through a WCAG audit to build a VPAT, we had to question everything—colors, design choices, even long-standing “favorites.”
The payoff: A clear roadmap for improvement and accessibility baked into the way you design and build—like spell-check, only more impactful. Watch a step-by-step breakdown of our VPAT journey ›
Remember, Digital Accessibility Is a Shared Mission—Don’t Disappear Out of Fear
One of the most harmful responses we’ve seen to ADA pressure is cities simply taking content down. Whether it’s videos, PDFs, or other essential public information, removing content to avoid lawsuits is a step backward. It only makes government less transparent and less useful to your community.
With a clear list of priorities and a step-by-step timeline, you can meet the compliance deadlines without taking access to public records and services away from everyone.
Want a Little More Guidance?
Join our upcoming free webinar:
Your Website, Your Meetings, Your Risk: WCAG Compliance Still Matters Ahead 2026 Rule Enforcement
Get a clear breakdown of the new ADA digital rules, learn what’s at stake, and walk away with a phased roadmap to get your city moving.
The Bottom Line
Legal risk is real—but with the right mindset and a clear plan, WCAG compliance can be a success story waiting to happen. It’s not about doing everything tomorrow. It’s about moving forward together, starting today.