Who Owns Accessibility? Shared Responsibility Across Colleges
Accessibility touches nearly every part of a college, from enrollment and student services to technology, instruction, communications, and the digital tools staff and students use every day. That makes one question particularly important: Who is responsible for accessibility? The answer isn’t one department or individual. Accessibility is a shared institutional responsibility but it needs clear leadership and accountability to succeed.
Why It Matters
Accessible programs, services, information, and technology help ensure students can fully participate in college. An inaccessible registration process, document, website, or digital platform can create a barrier to enrollment, learning, or accessing essential services. For colleges, this means accessibility is not simply a compliance issue. It is part of delivering effective programs and services and creating an equitable experience for students, faculty, and staff.
It also means moving beyond a reactive approach, where a particular office is asked to address an accessibility issue after it occurs, to one where accessibility is considered as part of how the college plans, purchases, designs, and delivers its work.
With the federal ADA Title II compliance deadline extended to April 26, 2027, the time to prepare is now. Colleges and districts can use this time to strengthen accessibility practices—from training faculty and staff and establishing standards for new content to assessing existing content, prioritizing remediation, and clarifying who is responsible for moving the work forward. Taking these steps now can help colleges make meaningful progress and be prepared for implementation.
Everyone Has a Role. Someone Must Be Accountable.
Because accessibility crosses organizational boundaries, colleges need a way to coordinate that work. The California Community Colleges Accessibility Center recommends a governance structure led by an Executive Sponsor, typically a senior leader at the vice president or vice chancellor level or higher. The Executive Sponsor provides institutional leadership, helps secure resources, removes barriers, and ensures accessibility efforts remain a priority. They also provide oversight when exceptions are made to established processes and accept the associated institutional risk.
A broader leadership governance body can then bring together representatives from areas such as Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS), Communications, and Academic Senate to help set priorities, assign work, oversee implementation, and evaluate progress.
Some colleges may also establish an Accessibility Team or accessibility experts to support day-to-day process design and implementation across areas such as technology, procurement, web services, and instructional design. The structure may look different at each college. The important thing is that responsibilities are clear, departments work together, and someone has the authority to move the work forward.
Making Accessibility Part of How Colleges Work
Effective accessibility governance helps colleges build accessibility into existing processes rather than treating it as a separate effort. That might mean considering accessibility when:
- selecting and purchasing technology
- designing registration and student service processes
- developing courses and educational materials
- creating websites, documents, communications, and other digital content
The goal isn’t for everyone to become an accessibility expert. It’s to ensure that the right people are considering accessibility at the right points, and have access to the expertise and support they need.
The California Community Colleges Accessibility Center provides resources, guidance, and support to help colleges build these practices and advance their accessibility efforts through the Accessibility Capability Maturity Model (ACMM).
Need Support?
If your college is developing or strengthening its accessibility governance structure, the CCC Accessibility Center is here to help. Questions about accessibility or ACMM implementation? Contact the Accessibility Center at accessibility@ccctechcenter.org or visit cccaccessibility.org for resources and guidance.