1. Introduction to Accessibility CREATING ACCESSIBLE DOCUMENTS WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, AND.PDF DREW CHILES

2. Who are these documents for?  Accessible documents ensure every student can consume and process the materials.  This particularly means greater access for people with auditory, vision, mobility, or tactility issues.  It is University policy to meet all reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.  This includes students who may be blind, deaf, older, color blind, dyslexic or have any other mild to severe learning or physical impairments.

3. How do I make documents accessible?  Generally a simple process with little change to the course content.  Most difficult step is adopting a new perspective.  Give documents a simple and logical structure so that the information can be conveyed with assistive technology.  The necessary tools are already included in Microsoft Office and Adobe packages.  There are also an abundance of online sources.  Contact me with questions related to Accessibility.

4. Keys to Accessible Documents and Presentations  Images, objects, and graphics need ‘Alt Text.’  Video and audio need captions or transcripts.  The document should have simple, logical structure.  Tables and charts need a simple design, proper tagging, and maybe a summary.  Use strong color contrast.  For links, use descriptive text in the body and appropriate Alt Text.  Slides and tabs should have unique names.