Creating Accessible Documents for Teaching and Learning | Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre

Word Documents for Resources, Handouts or Accessibility Copies

Document uses Headings in proper order using the heading styles menu in Word
Word document uses sans-serif font (such as Calibri, Arial, or Verdana)
Make sure body text is 11 or 12 font depending on the font type you select.
If creating accessibility copies (for conferences for example) ensure that the body text is 16 font minimum.
Colour is not to be used for emphasis. Bold used for emphasis where required, not italics
All images or graphs have alt-texts or if decorative selected as such
Write a description for your image so that if someone is using a screen reader they would have the same information as someone who is not. Or if image is decorative select the decorative image checkbox
Tables are identified with header rows and alt-texts [links to 2 min video]
Go to Layout in Table tools, highlight your header row with mouse and select repeat header row
Select target on top left corner of table and click Table Properties and go to Alt-Text tab and describe the purpose of the table for those who use screen readers.
Hyperlinks have meaningful description
Word document has been run through the accessibility check and corrected for access issues
If PDF required, Word document has been saved as a tagged PDF document
Go to file, then save as, then save as type “PDF”
Check on Options box and make sure “document structure tags for accessibility” has been selected. Click Ok and click save

Template selected is accessible in terms of colour contrast and decorative elements (Examples of accessible PPT templates you may want to consider Parcel, Quotable, or Frame)
Font is sans-serif (such as Calibri, Arial, Verdana)
Font size for title is minimum 30 font
Font size for body text is minimum 24 font
Hyperlinks have meaningful description
The reading order including transitions has been checked so that the order is maintained if someone only used tabs to move through your slide deck
All images or graphs have alt-texts or if decorative selected as such
Write a description for your image so that if someone is using a screen reader they would have the same information. Or if image is decorative select the decorative image checkbox
Slide deck has been run through the accessibility check and corrected for access issues
If PDF required, PowerPoint slide deck has been saved as a tagged PDF document
Go to file, then save as, then save as type “PDF”
Check on Options box and make sure “document structure tags for accessibility” has been selected. Click Ok and click save