This year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, celebrated on May 15, 2025, highlights the experiences of more than 1.3 billion people worldwide - including one in six students - living with a disability. Despite its size and growing recognition, this community still faces a gap between the need for accessibility and the availability of truly inclusive solutions.
ACT’s longstanding commitment to accessibility
“ACT has a long history of providing supports for learners with disabilities. Well before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ACT led the industry in accommodations such as extended time, braille, large print, pre-recorded audio, and one-on-one testing,” says Susan Hirsch, Program Director of Accessibility.
Today, ACT continues to lead through its Accessibility Policy and Procedures, public Accessibility Statement, and Accommodations Policy focusing on inclusive design and fair access to assessments.
A timeline of progress:
- 2020: The first online ACT National Test was created to be the first fully interactive standardized test that could be taken by students who use screen readers.
- 2021: ACT’s accommodations eligibility policy was aligned with federal special education laws to remove process barriers, resulting in easier access to accommodations for students who have IEPs and 504 Plans and their school staff.
- 2022: ACT updated its translation policy, allowing item translation for the first time to provide accommodation for Deaf ASL speakers with a reading impairment and cannot hear audio read-aloud accommodations.
- 2023: ACT’s design of test items began to fully incorporate principles of Universal Design for Learning and Universal Design for Assessment, making ACT assessments accessible to all students from the early phases of item design.
- 2024: The ACT National online was launched in a new platform for everyone, building accessibility into this iteration from the beginning.
- 2025: ACT continues to explore new ways to deliver universally designed products more efficiently and is carefully considering using artificial intelligence and automation.
- Learn the basics through free resources from WebAim.
- Join a Global Accessibility Awareness Day event near you or online.
- Check technical requirements for web content with the WCAG QuickRef.
- Make social media more inclusive by adding alt text, like image descriptions and descriptive captions, so people with visual impairments can follow along.
For more information about accommodations and supports available to students taking the ACT, please visit ACT Test Accommodations and English Learner Supports. To find free online practice tests in alternate formats for all assessments, please visit Practice Tests for Examinees Using Accommodations.