Accessibility
All University digital content, including instructional content, audio, videos, documents, forms and websites, must be accessible by April 24, 2026. Individuals are responsible for ensuring the digital content they create or maintain for University business is accessible and meets WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines.
Ask yourself
- Is this a document that can be hosted on Canvas?
- Is this document meant to be printed? If so, it will have to be accessibility compliant to be hosted on our website.
- If the document isn't meant to be printed, can it be a webpage? If so, please reach out to Mitch Harrison.
Making a PDF accessibility compliant
This short video series by Microsoft shows the ins and outs of making sure that your document is accessibility compliant. Make sure to start with the Accessibility Checker.
This checker can help locate common accessibility issues that may be occurring in the document. It won’t find everything, so after running the checker, complete one last manual check.
Using the Accessibility Checker
Tagging a PDF is the process of adding an invisible, hierarchical structure of semantic tags to the document, similar to HTML code.
Bookmarks are navigable links within documents that provide structured navigation for users, particularly those relying on screen readers, and are created by tagging headings in the source document
Headings are navigable links within documents that provide structured navigation for users, particularly those relying on screen readers, and are created by tagging headings in the source document
Document accessibility for images ensures that people who are unable to see images, such as blind or low-vision individuals, can still access and understand the visual information. This is achieved primarily by providing alternative text (alt text), a brief text description that describes the image's content and purpose for assistive technologies like screen readers.
Document accessibility for images ensures that people who are unable to see images, such as blind or low-vision individuals, can still access and understand the visual information. This is achieved primarily by providing alternative text (alt text), a brief text description that describes the image's content and purpose for assistive technologies like screen readers.
Document accessibility for images ensures that people who are unable to see images, such as blind or low-vision individuals, can still access and understand the visual information. This is achieved primarily by providing alternative text (alt text), a brief text description that describes the image's content and purpose for assistive technologies like screen readers.
Document accessibility lists are semantically structured collections of items, created using proper tags and styles (not just visual formatting), that allow users of assistive technologies, like screen readers, to easily navigate, understand the number of items, and interpret the content.
Accessible navigation links are hyperlinks designed to be easily and efficiently used by individuals with disabilities, especially those who rely on assistive technologies
An accessible table is a table in a document or web page that is structured and formatted to be understood by users with disabilities, especially those using screen readers or other assistive technologies. Key elements include clearly defined header cells (rows and columns) to provide context for data, simple table structures without merged cells, an informative caption or alt text describing the table's purpose, and the use of correct markup (like <th> and <td> in HTML) to define cell relationships.