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As educators, instructional designers, and creators, we know how important accessibility is to engaging all viewers, reaching a diverse audience, and providing inclusive learning experiences. But did you know that for many institutions, video accessibility will soon be a requirement?
What are the new digital accessibility requirements?
In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a new digital accessibility rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This new rule requires state and local governments to ensure that all digital content, including videos, is accessible and complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards.
Who is affected and when?
Organizations affected by this rule include colleges, universities, state and local governments, state agencies, public libraries, and public hospitals. The timeline to comply varies by the organization’s size or population served. Larger organizations must meet these new requirements by April 24, 2026, while smaller organizations have until April 24, 2027.
How to make your videos accessible with ScreenPal
As you plan, script, and storyboard your videos, consider promoting accessibility and inclusivity by doing the following:
- Use a high-quality microphone to record audio.
- Record in a room with no background noise. The ScreenPal Narrate tool also helps reduce background noise as you record narration.
- Tip: If you don’t have the proper audio setup or find that your microphone picks up too much background noise, you can use ScreenPal’s text-to-speech tool for narration.
- When recording, speak clearly and slowly. Give your viewers time to process the information in your video by pausing between sections.
- Use clear language, free of jargon and acronyms.
- Consider the visibility of speakers in your video, as some people use mouth movement to understand spoken language.
- Ensure that overlay text is readable and meets the contrast standards outlined by WCAG.
- Do not rely on the usage of color alone to convey information.
- Plan for audio descriptions of visual information by either integrating these descriptions into the main content of the video or recording the video with timing to accommodate them.
Additionally, ScreenPal has several tools to help you create accessible content that is fully compliant with WCAG guidelines.
Captions
According to the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard, recorded videos containing speech or other audio needed to understand the content must include accurate captions. There are several ways you can add synced captions to your ScreenPal videos.
From the Video Editor, you can add captions from a file, add automated speech-to-text captions if you have a paid plan, or manually enter blank captions. If you’re using the Stories feature, you can use your script text as caption text as well.
You can also add captions to uploaded videos from your ScreenPal hosting account. Use ScreenPal AI to generate captions, upload a captions file, or enter your time-stamped captions manually.
For more information about all of our captions options, see our How to Add Captions and Using ScreenPal AI tutorials.
Audio descriptions
Videos containing relevant visual information that impact the video’s message must include audio descriptions. Audio descriptions can be integrated descriptions, which are included in the main speaker’s script, or you can add standard audio descriptions that fit into your video’s natural pauses in regular audio.
If your organization has a ScreenPal Team plan, you can automatically generate editable audio descriptions with our AI audio description tool as well as upload audio descriptions from a file or add them manually. Alternatively, you can use ScreenPal’s Narrate tool in the Video Editor, or our text-to-speech tool to create audio descriptions within your videos. For more information about all of these options, see our tutorial titled Adding Audio Descriptions to Videos.
Color contrast
The Web Content Accessibility Guideline includes standards for color contrast ratios to ensure that all icons and text are readable by your viewers.
In areas of ScreenPal where you can change the player color or button colors, you will see the contrast box.
A green check mark is displayed when you select a background color that meets the minimum color contrast ratio. Regular text requires a contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 or stronger for text against its background.
When you choose darker or lighter background colors, the button text or player controls automatically adjust to meet the minimum ratio.
To further promote color contrast standards, when you add text overlays in the Video Editor, use a text background when your image or video is particularly busy. Use light or white text on a dark background, and black or dark text on lighter backgrounds.
Player controls and captions settings
You can provide additional accessibility functionality for your audience by turning on Player Controls for your videos. Player controls enable your viewers to do the following:
- Pause the video
- Adjust the volume
- Turn closed captions on and off
- Edit the captions settings, which include adjusting the color of the caption text and background, and the text size and font
- Change the speed at which the video is played to match their learning pace
See our Player Controls tutorial for a full overview of how to configure controls for your viewers.
Why ScreenPal?
ScreenPal provides affordable, intuitive tools for creating engaging videos for any audience. Our accessibility tools are seamlessly integrated within our apps to ensure that you can create and share inclusive content using one platform. Start creating accessible content today!
