Document Accessibility: FAQs

[Intro slide briefly appears with the words “Document Accessibility FAQs” on it, then fades out. Lily’s camera fades in.] 

LILY: Hi, my name is Lily and I am the Document Accessibility Specialist at Ability. And today we are going to go over some FAQs about document accessibility. So let’s jump in.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “What is document accessibility?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: OK, so first of all, what is document accessibility? Well, document accessibility, essentially, is ensuring that all digital documents you provide to your users are accessible to people with disabilities. So just like a website needs to be accessible, all digital content needs to be accessible as well. This can happen in two ways. Either you create an accessible document from scratch, or you’re going to be remediating your document for accessibility later on.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Why do you need accessible documents and/or document remediation?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: Why do you need accessible documents and/or document remediation? Well, not only are people relying on digital access and content now more than ever before, but countries around the world are continuing to pass standards and laws around digital accessibility that apply to documents as well. Just like a webpage needs to be accessible, like I was saying before, documents do as well, and you don’t want your documents slipping through the cracks, especially if you’re doing all of that work to make your website accessible too.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Who needs document remediation?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: Who needs document remediation? Well, since all users benefit from accessible documents, all businesses can benefit from document remediation. However, businesses specifically in countries that have any sort of digital accessibility standard or law must ensure they’re compliant.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “What types of documents are included when we talk about document accessibility?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: What types of documents are included when we talk about document accessibility? What documents should be remediated? Well, any digital document that you provide to a user should be accessible. That includes documents that a user could download from your website, or e-mail attachments, or even digital form documents that you would have a user submit. A very general, non-exhaustive list of the types of documents that would need to be accessible include: text documents like a Microsoft Word document, spreadsheets like Excel, slideshows like PowerPoint, any kind of PDF, including a form that you would submit, and then also EPUBs, or e-publications like e-books.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “How do you know if a document is accessible?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: How do you know if a document is accessible? Some characteristics of an accessible document are that it is keyboard navigable, that it is able to be read by a screen reader, and that it also passes color contrast requirements. The only way to know for sure if you do have an accessible document is through testing. That includes both automated and manual testing. And please keep in mind that manual testing is always required because automated testing 1 can’t catch everything and then 2, sometimes what it does catch is inaccurate.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Are there any other options besides having to remediate a document?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: Are there any other options besides having to remediate a document? The short answer is it depends. If your goal is to have something that the user could download or possibly print out, then a PDF may be the way to go. However, it is generally agreed upon that, if possible, you should try to limit the number of documents that you’re using and try to keep information on web pages if- if possible. And if you already have an accessible website or are already working on an accessible website, adding an additional web page with that information isn’t — or shouldn’t — be too difficult at least.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “How do you make a document accessible?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: How do you make a document accessible? Well, the actions that you’ll take to make a document accessible will depend on the format that you offer to the user, and also what type of content is within the document itself. With that being said, there are a few general components to account for when you make an accessible document, which include: marking all decorative images, using proper headings — you know, proper semantic headings instead of just styling the text — making sure all links are actual hyperlinks with appropriate link text and descriptions, incorporating proper color contrast. For tables, making sure that they have column/row headers. For forms, if you have forms, making sure all form fields have proper labels. If you’re working with a document that includes metadata, making sure that you include all the appropriate metadata, which can include a document title, an author, maybe a language. And then if you’re working with a PDF, you also have to account for tags and the reading order that the tags are shown in, and then also using the proper reading– the proper tags themselves, in addition to quite a few other things, but that’s a general list.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Can you do document remediation yourself, or should you outsource to a remediation expert?” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: Can you do document remediation yourself, or should you outsource to a remediation expert? If you’re trying to decide if you need a document remediation specialist, it’s best to consider three things. 1. How much time you’re able to dedicate both to training and to remediation. 2. How complex the documents are, and then 3. The total number of documents that you have. Document remediation can be extremely technical and pretty time consuming. However, if you don’t have training in document remediation, you still may be able to do some simple remediation. There are a lot of best practices that you can incorporate. Complex documents, on the other hand, likely need to be remediated with someone who has a little bit more technical training. Accessible content creation and remediation can be a full-time job in and of itself, and most companies that don’t already have an accessibility team or aren’t in a position to create one don’t typically have a person that can dedicate the necessary amount of time that goes into complex document remediation.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Conclusion & Thanks” briefly appears. Then it fades out and Lily’s camera reappears.]

LILY: All right, that’s all the FAQs we have for you today. Thank you for watching. I hope the information was useful and we will see you in another video soon. Thanks.

[Lily’s camera fades out. A slide with the text “Thank you! See you in another video soon” appears, then after a few seconds fades out.]