Digital Accessibility: Screen Readers

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When creating more accessible documents, PDFs, and presentations for online distribution, we aim to make these accessible for all learners; including those who use screen readers. Have you ever experienced a screen reader?



The Microsoft Immersive Reader is accessed using our webmail (Microsoft Outlook online email). It appears when you open a document that's attached in an email message (no available for PDFs). Works for OneNote, and other MS tools...it is also built-in to FlipGrid video discussion tool.


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Digital Accessibility: MS Word Lists & Emphasis (2)

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Using List Styles Any content that is organized as a list should be created using the list controls that are provided. There are usually one or more controls for adding lists. Using the available tools to create lists helps students using screen readers or assistive technologies understand how the content is organized. When a screen reader navigates a list, the screen reader informs the student that they’re on a list and informs them of how many items are in the list. Common List Mistakes A common mistake is to create your own “list” by typing in asterisks (*), dashes (-), or numbers before each line and pressing the tab key or space bar to move over.  MS Word, depending on the version you use will attempt to create a list for you at this point. Not using the list tool to properly format a list can make content more difficult to navigate by users of assistive technology. List Types For our purposes there are two types of lists that might be included in a document or web p
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MS Office Accessibility Checker

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Before sending your email message or sharing your document or spreadsheet, run the Accessibility Checker to make sure your Microsoft Office content is easy for people of all abilities to read and edit. Use the Accessibility Checker On the ribbon, select the  Review  tab. If you are using Outlook, note that you'll only see the  Review  tab  when writing or replying to messages. Select  Check Accessibility . Review your results. You'll see a list of errors, warnings, and tips with how-to-fix recommendations for each. See  Rules for the Accessibility Checker  for more information. Fix recommendations with ease To easily address accessibility errors and warnings, select an issue to open the  Recommended Actions  list. You can apply a one-click fix by selecting an action, or select the arrow button next to an action for more options.    Check accessibility while you work To be notified of accessibility issues in your document as you continue working on
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Digital Accessibility: Saved as PDF

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A more common type of PDF is one created in a different format and saved as a PDF. Perhaps you created a Microsoft Word handout and wanted to make it as available as possible to students. But to keep the formatting correct and not allow them to make any changes, you saved it as a PDF. The PDF is always less accessible than the original file. So, if you didn’t run the accessibility checker on your Word file and resolve any issues found then, the PDF will have those issues While PDFs are becoming easier to make accessible, the editing options are limited. My advice is that if you create the original file in another authoring tool (Word, PowerPoint, Etc) run accessibility checks in this tool and make your necessary changes there. It saves you quite a bit of work in Adobe Acrobat. that said, here's how to get the process started: Open the file in Acrobat Pro Click Tools Click Action Wizard Click Make Accessible After “making accessible,” Acrobat will want to run the ac
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