What happened in digital accessibility news in August 2024?

Each month, the Lumar team rounds up some of the top headlines for web accessibility professionals. This month, our accessibility news roundup includes: 1. More class action lawsuits filed in relation to the poor performance of websites’ ‘accessibility overlay’ tools. 2. Costly financial impacts are projected for EdTech companies to adhere to new ADA Title II web accessibility rules. 3. 94% of European websites studied failed at least one accessibility test, according to a new ‘State of Digital Accessibility in Europe’ report. 4. W3C is finalizing its guidance on applying WCAG 2 to non-web information and communications technologies (such as non-web documents and software).

What happened in web accessibility news this month?

Each month, the Lumar team rounds up some of the top headlines for website managers and web accessibility professionals.

For our July 2025 a11y news roundup, we cover:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Turns 35
300+ digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in the US last month
Leading tech companies continue to prioritize digital accessibility with new features and announcements
WC3 publishes an editor’s draft of Accessibility Guidelines Evaluation Methodology 2.0
Upcoming accessibility events

Read on for the top digital accessibility news stories this month.

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Turns 35

July 26, 2025, marked the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark civil rights law advancing equal access for people with disabilities. In recognition of this milestone, the ADA National Network has released a special ADA Anniversary Toolkit, available at adaanniversary.org, featuring resources, history, and ways to raise awareness.

(Source: ADA Anniversary Toolkit )

Learn more about how to make your website ADA compliant in our guide, written in collaboration with our a11y expert partners at QualityLogic

300+ digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in the US last month

According to AAAtraq reporting, 305 digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in June 2025 across the United States, with New York, Florida, and California leading the charge. While e-commerce accounted for the majority of lawsuits (69%), other sectors like food services, healthcare, and education were also significantly impacted. Both major global brands (e.g., Jo Malone, Shake Shack) and small businesses (e.g., The Meatball Shop, Urbane Café) faced legal action, underscoring that no company size or industry is exempt from this growing legal focus

(Source: AAAtraq, “The High Risk of Digital Accessibility Failure: No Sector or Size is Exempt”)

Major brands continue to prioritize digital accessibility with new features and announcements

Major corporations are increasingly investing in accessibility features, seemingly recognizing digital accessibility as a strategic business imperative and a hub for innovation. The new 2025 Forbes Accessibility 100 list published last month highlighted leaders at Apple, Google, and Microsoft, among many others, for their accessibility work.

In May of this year, around GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day), many big tech brands announced new accessibility features. Last month, more major companies announced new a11y features and commitments, including:

Microsoft committed to EAA compliance for Windows, Teams, and Outlook.
Amazon enhanced Kindle accessibility.
Uber launched a “Senior Mode” to remove barriers for aging customers.
Walmart deployed AI for real-time translation, demonstrating a shift towards inclusive design as a competitive advantage.

(Sources: Disability:IN, et al. )

WC3 editor’s draft of Accessibility Guidelines Evaluation Methodology 2.0 published

On July 23, 2025, the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) 2.0 Editor’s Draft was published, providing the work-in-progress draft of guidance on evaluating conformance to WCAG 2.

This document describes a procedure to evaluate how well digital services and products conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2. (Note, per W3.org: Editor’s Drafts are works in progress inside a W3C Group and are not required to have the consensus of the Group participants. These drafts have not received formal review and are not endorsed by W3C.)

(Source: W3C Editor’s Draft on GitHub)

Upcoming accessibility events

Our friends at QualityLogic have compiled a list of upcoming accessibility events to keep on your radar in the coming months:

The 2025 Global Corporate Disability Inclusion (Disability:IN) conference and expo will be held in Orlando from July 14-17
Registrations are now open for Knowbility’s Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR), which kicks off in September
GitHub announced the Open Source Accessibility Summit, which will be a one-day in person event bringing together members of the accessibility and open-source communities. It will occur on Sunday, October 12 in Raleigh, NC

(Source: QualityLogic)