Accessibility Testing in Ohio, Done by Hand

ADA audits for Ohio sites against WCAG 2.1 AA, with the deadline that actually applies to you.

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The short answer for Ohio

The law that reaches you in Ohio is federal. The ADA's Title II rule names WCAG 2.1 AA for state and local government, and it sets two dates by population. A Census population of 50,000 or more means April 26, 2027, and anything below it means April 26, 2028. Watch that word population, because the DOJ says plainly that it is not the number of people you serve, it is the Census figure for the entity you are part of. Run a business rather than a public body and no regulation sets you a date at all, which sounds lighter until you notice that courts landed on the same standard anyway. So in Ohio the deadline depends on who you are. The standard does not.

So here is what we do about it. We work your Ohio site against all 55 WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules by hand, then a professional blind screen-reader user runs your real journeys while we record where they stop. Every finding arrives with its screenshot and the fix that closes it. The report reads the same whether a developer, a lawyer or a county administrator opens it.

Which law lands on you in Ohio

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Standard: WCAG 2.1 AA (Title II rule, de facto standard in Title III cases)
Where it stands: Title II: Apr 26, 2027 / Apr 26, 2028
Who it binds: Public and private sectors
Reaches sellers based abroad: Not by itself
What non-compliance costs: Federal lawsuits, DOJ enforcement, settlement costs

Federal web suits, 2025 (Seyfarth): 3,117
Growth over 2024: +27%
Of all Title III filings: 36%
WCAG version cited: 2.1 AA

The ADA dates, 4 of them

Apr 24, 2024DOJ Title II final rule published: WCAG 2.1 AA becomes a formal requirement for state and local governments
Apr 20, 2026DOJ extends the compliance deadlines by one year
Apr 26, 2027Deadline: public entities with a Census population of 50,000 or more
Apr 26, 2028Deadline: smaller entities and special districts

Read the full ADA page

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

Standard: WCAG 2.0 AA (incorporated by the 2017 refresh)
Where it stands: Compliance required since Jan 18, 2018
Who it binds: The public sector
Reaches sellers based abroad: Not by itself
What non-compliance costs: Lost federal contracts, complaints, civil actions

WCAG incorporated: 2.0 AA
Compliance required since: 2018
Required in procurement: ACR
The one non-agency it binds: USPS

The Section 508 dates, 3 of them

Jan 18, 2017Revised 508 standards published (the refresh)
Mar 21, 2017The rule takes effect, a day later than originally scheduled
Jan 18, 2018Compliance required: WCAG 2.0 AA in force for federal ICT

Read the full Section 508 page

Which date applies to a public body in Ohio

This is the part public bodies get wrong most often, and it is worth two minutes. The Title II rule sorts you by population, and the Department of Justice says in as many words that your population is not the number of people you serve. Four rules decide which figure is yours.

You have a Census population of your own. Use it. A city, a county, a state.
You are an independent school district. Use your figure from the 2022 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates instead, not the district's enrollment.
You have no population of your own. Take the Census population of the government you are part of. A library branch, a parks department, a transit agency, a public university. This is the one that moves people into the earlier tier, and it is why the figure above matters to more than the local government itself.
You are a special district government. There is no Census population to count, and your date is April 26, 2028.

The DOJ's own example is the one that lands. A state university with 40,000 students, sitting inside a state of six million, has a population of six million and the earlier date. The student count never came into it. The full ADA page works through the rest, including the five kinds of content that are exempt and the cost defense and who has to prove it.

Take federal health money as well and a second clock runs beside this one, because the HHS Section 504 rule counts employees rather than population. We audit against both dates at once for government bodies and school districts.

Inside an audit for a site in Ohio

Start with the honest part. The audit is the same in Ohio as it is anywhere, because WCAG does not change at a border. What changes is which law is watching and what it costs to fail, and the section above settles that.

The work itself runs in three passes. A machine finds the failures a machine can prove. A human works every one of the 55 A and AA rules by hand. Then a professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, the way your customers would. Every finding arrives with its screenshot and the fix that closes it, drawn from our free library of 432 guides.

None of the reference sits behind a form, either. Every number below counts pages you can go and read right now, free, whether you ever buy an audit or not.

A and AA rules we check: 55
Techniques and failures: 432
ACT test rules: 90
ARIA roles documented: 94
Terms in the glossary: 131
Checklists to work from: 9

A free 10-page scan that finds what a machine can prove, before you spend anything
Paid audits at fixed prices on the pricing page, $499 for 10 pages in 5 business days, $1,499 for 25 in 10
The exact deliverable, free to read, as the sample report

The honest limit

Nobody should oversell you a place page, so here is what this one is. Ohio has no web accessibility law of its own in our library, which means the rules above are the ones that reach you and they come from higher up. Which laws apply to you settles it in two questions.

And an audit is evidence, not a legal opinion. We tell you what fails, who it stops, and what closes it. Whether that satisfies a regulator or a court in Ohio is a question for your lawyer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Straight answers for Ohio

My site is in Ohio. Does that change what you test?

No. WCAG is the same standard everywhere, so the testing is identical wherever you are. What changes is which law is watching and what failing it costs, and that is what the law section on this page settles.

What law am I actually answering to in Ohio?

ADA and Section 508 are the ones that reach Ohio first, and each has its own page here covering what it asks for, who it lands on, and how it gets enforced. Sell into more than one market and more than one of them can reach you at the same time.

Should I be publishing an accessibility statement here?

No law that reaches Ohio names one in our library, so nothing forces you to publish a statement. You can still publish one anyway, and our free generator will write it from what the audit found.

What am I paying, and what turnaround do I get?

A Rapid Audit is $499 for 10 pages, with the report in 5 business days. A Standard Audit is $1,499 for 25 pages in 10 business days. Once your team has fixed things, the re-audit is half price within 3 months.

Who does the human half of the testing?

Yes, on every audit. A professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, and we write down where they stop. That is the pass no scanner can run.

Related on this site

The reading behind the law that reaches you in Ohio, and the guides that turn it into work your team can do.

Counties we test in Ohio

Show all 88

Accessibility testing in other countries

Show all 49

Find out where your site stands in Ohio

Run the free scan. Read the sample report. Order the audit when you want the humans on it, and what lands is a report your developers, your lawyer or a regulator in Ohio can act on.