Welcome to the Accessibility Resources Space! We're glad you're here. This space is designed to support faculty and staff in creating more inclusive and accessible material and environments. Here you'll find a wide range of resources, tools, and guidance to help you make your content more usable for all. Whether you're just beginning your accessibility journey or looking to deepen your practice, this space is here to empower you with practical strategies and support.
When creating a PDF from a Word document or PowerPoint file, you should always Save As and choose PDF as the type, rather than Printing to PDF. Printing to PDF removes all accessibility features, whereas Saving As a PDF will retain all of the tagging, heading structure, and other elements needed for an accessible PDF!
Have you ever seen a presentation where the presenter wrote exactly what they would say on the slide itself? When slides are packed with paragraphs, they can be difficult for many people to follow—including those sitting in the back, individuals with dyslexia, people with learning differences, or anyone trying to read while listening to a presenter. Cognitive overload can result, and learners often miss the main point for all the details.
Instead of writing everything on the slide, focus on key ideas or short phrases and let your spoken explanation provide the details. This makes slides easier to scan, reduces cognitive overload, and helps your audience to stay engaged.
Quick Tip: Aim for a few concise bullet points per slide and keep full explanations in your speaker notes.
Concise slides help everyone focus on the message—not the reading!
You’ve probably said (or at least thought) one of these:
“This doesn’t apply to my field.”
“I don’t have time to redo all my slides.”
“Can’t AI just fix this soon?”
If so, congratulations—you may have experienced one of the Five Stages of Accessibility Grief.
When people begin thinking seriously about accessibility, the emotional journey often looks a lot like the classic five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Not everyone moves through the stages in order. Some days we bounce between them. But recognizing where you are can help you move forward. In practice, many accessibility improvements—clear structure, readable slides, captions, and descriptive images—turn out to be things that help all students learn better.
Here are some common examples of “accessibility grief”.
Denial (It’s not just a river in Egypt…)
“This doesn’t apply to me. No one in my field needs this.”
“AI will probably fix accessibility in a few years—why don’t we wait for that?”
“Isn’t this what the Office of Disability Resources handles?”
“None of my students have disabilities.”
Anger
“I don’t have time to do this.”
“This makes everything harder.”
“Why doesn’t the University hire people to do this for us?”
Bargaining
“What if I just don’t upload the PPTs?”
“What if I put the material somewhere other than Canvas?”
“What if I just tell students to email me if they need something?”
“Do I really have to do everything? What’s the bare minimum?”
Depression
“I have SO MANY SLIDES.”
“Some of these lectures are older than my students.”
“This is never going to be finished.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
Acceptance (This is Reality)
“I’ll just build accessibility into my workflow.”
“Students actually appreciate the clearer slides and captions.”
“Alt text, headings, and captions are just part of how I make materials now.”
You don’t have to fix everything at once—just make the next thing you create a little more accessible.
And wherever you are in the process, be patient with yourself and keep moving forward.
A website carousel (also called a “slider" or “slideshow") presents a collection of items one at a time. They’re a common feature on websites and blogs— but from an accessibility perspective, carousels could be a liability. By allowing content to rotate within the same space, carousels help keep a webpage clean and uncluttered while presenting various information.
?However, carousels can be hard to operate for users navigating using keyboards, especially if they rotate using a timer rather than allowing a user to advance the carousel at their leisure. This is particularly disorientating for screen reader users, who may not realize the page is changing state, and it can be difficult users with cognitive, motor, or visual impairments. It is difficult for users to see how much content is available in a carousel. Many users will miss (presumably important) content that appears on later carousel ‘slides’.
Instead of carousels, use more effective alternatives like static images, grid/card layouts, “show more” buttons, or single-feature sections. These options are faster, clearer, more user-friendly, and ultimately better for engagement and conversions.
Tables are for data — not decoration. And when you format them correctly, everyone wins (including screen reader users!). Here’s how to keep your tables accessibility–friendly:
1. Give Tables a Clear Purpose Use tables for actual data — not for layout. If it’s not showing relationships between rows and columns, it’s not table material.
2. Add Proper Header Cells Mark column (and row, when needed) headers properly by using the built-in “Header Row” option in Word and Google docs. Screen readers rely on this to announce context like: “Final Exam Score, 92” Instead of just: “92.”
3. Keep It Simple Avoid:
Merged or split cells
Blank cells (blanks can be indicated with “N/A” or “--"
Nested tables
Complex layouts can confuse assistive technology and make navigation harder.
4. Provide a Table Summary (When Needed) If the table is complex, include a short sentence before it explaining what it shows. This helps all users understand what they’re about to explore.
5. Don’t Rely on Color Alone If you’re highlighting trends or categories, use text labels — not just color — to communicate meaning.
Quick Rule of Thumb: If someone listening (not looking) can understand your table clearly, you’re on the right track.
Did you know that screen readers rely on your document’s language setting to pronounce words correctly? If the language isn’t set (or is set incorrectly), assistive technology may mispronounce content or struggle to interpret it accurately.
Why it matters:
Setting the correct language ensures:
Accurate screen reader pronunciation
Better comprehension for multilingual users
Improved accessibility compliance
How to do it (quick steps):
Microsoft Word: Review → Language → Choose your language → OK
Google Docs: File → Language → Select your language
