Exploratory automated audit of visual and structural accessibility gaps in US university homepages and Disability Services pages with the Accessible Name and Description Inspector

Abstract Background Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sect. 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires higher education institutions in the United States to ensure digital resources meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Persistent barriers continue to limit equitable access. Objective To exploratorily evaluate visual and structural accessibility of U.S. university websites, focusing on compliance with ADA and Sect. 508 standards. Methods Homepages and Disability Services pages from 20 universities (10 public, 10 private) were audited using the Accessible Name & Description Inspector (ANDI) across four modules: Graphics/Images, Links/Buttons, Headings, and Color Contrast — yielding 160 page–module scans. Alerts were recorded with screenshots for reproducibility. An “alert” refers to an automated flag indicating a potential WCAG 2.1 AA violation; alerts vary in magnitude and many require manual verification. Results The audit identified 1,626 alerts, with Color Contrast accounting for 54%. Frequent issues included missing alternative text, ambiguous link names, and contrast concerns. Homepages recorded more alerts than Disability Services pages (mean 14.19 vs. 6.14 alerts per scan). Public and private institutions showed similar overall patterns, with public institutions accounting for 53.1% of total alerts. All reported differences are descriptive only. Conclusions Accessibility gaps remain prevalent in U.S. university websites, including on pages serving disabled users. Regular automated audits, combined with governance, template remediation, and inclusive practices, can improve compliance and equity.