Documents Accessibility
The Definitive Guide (2022)

PowerPoint, Word, and Excel- Oh My

What about a company PowerPoint presentation or a regular Word document? Accessibility is everywhere these days, and that is a beautiful thing. It means different people with unique needs can easily access your company’s information or interact with your website, which means you can reach a larger, more diverse audience. 

When we talk about accessibility for documents, we are talking about how to ensure everyone who accesses your documents can do so in a manner that will allow them to navigate with ease and understand or interact with your business in a meaningful or useful way.

Are you telling me a PDF can be made accessible?

Indeed.

A PDF is accessible when variously abled communities can access the information within the document. 

Let’s break that down… 

If a user is blind and needs to access the information in your document, they will require a screen reader. Other communities that need accessibility to access or navigate documents include deaf, hard of hearing, low vision, cognitive impairments, and more. 

Ok, so you get the big picture, but how does it work in real life?

Assistive technologies allow people with disabilities to access different information. These might include: 

•Screen magnification

•Braille embosser

•Speech recognition software 

•Screen readers, and more!

Tag… You’re it! 

According to the W3C, a tagged PDF is one way to make PDFs accessible. 

A tagged PDF is like a map detailing exactly where you need to go. A Tagged PDF defines a set of standard structure types and attributes that allow page content, like graphics to text to images, and allows content to be extracted and reused for different purposes. 

Different elements on the document are marked within it, so it is organized into specified tags. Then, like magic, those kinds of content are present. 

How do I know what standards should be met? 

So glad you asked. 

The WCAG or Web Content Accessibility Guideline is the gold standard in setting accessibility standards for businesses, non-profits, governments, and more. 

The internet is constantly growing and changing. Think back to the days all you did was download music on your computer and compare it with today’s virtual doctor visit. Pretty intense stuff! When so much changes so fast, there is a need for the WCAG to also be evolving and updating its guidelines.  

WCAG 2.0 & 2.1 are generally what is followed to ensure PDF accessibility. 

Let us introduce Section 508 

Technical legal terms and laws don’t exactly say “party!” but hang in there with us. This one is pretty cool. 

In 1998 the US Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to variously abled communities. 

This amendment is known as Section 508. Its goal is to eliminate barriers in information technology and ensure that individuals with disabilities have more opportunities and are included in technology development.  

Next, we’ll dive into the various document types that need to meet accessibility standards. These include the usual suspects:

•PowerPoint

•Excel

•Word 

Keep Section 508 in mind and the other significant benefits of meeting compliance standards when it comes to your business and its electronic documents. 

Now, let’s get to the good stuff.

Here’s how someone with differently-abled might experience a company PowerPoint presentation: 

•Blind or low vision individuals may miss critical aspects of the presentation since visual imaging may hold a lot of weight on each slide

•Hard of hearing or deaf individuals could have difficulty understanding the speaker- often, slides are notes, and the speaker explains in a larger context, so only seeing the slides wouldn’t be enough to understand fully 

•Individuals trying to access the PPT could have motor function impairments not allowing them to skip through the slides or click to hear the sound for any videos 

Wow! That’s a lot to take in. Granting everyone equal access to information is so hugely important when we start to understand how the experience of navigating documents can be so different for many people. 

Feeling overwhelmed?

Now that we think about it, PowerPoints are a bit more complicated and layered than other documents. Think about what goes down in a PPT presentation- you have a room full of people, a speaker, and a lot of visual and audio content to deal with. 

It may seem like there are many moving parts to making a presentation accessible, but with some thoughtful planning, it can be achieved successfully. Ensure the document itself meets WCAG accessibility standards, and consider asking your audience beforehand about any specific requirements or needs.

How can an Excel spreadsheet meet accessibility standards? Well, it might be easier than you thought. Keep the following in mind: 

•Titles are essential to explain any sets of data on the spreadsheet

•Include a message indicating the end of the table 

•Don’t use blank cells to format

•Ensure each sheet tab has a unique and relevant name

•If you merge cells, it can make a user using a screen reader unsure of how the information is related to the other rows or columns 

•Any images, charts, or graphs in an Excel document should have alt text 

•Tables also need alt text for some users to understand better what they represent 

If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath. Learning about accessibility is a journey, and the impacts of meeting compliance standards are positive and impactful. You can visit Microsoft’s page to further dive into the details of accessibility in Excel documents.

•Headings are your friend. Use the options presented to you within the Word interface- for example, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and so on.

•If you are going to make a list, use bullets or numbers to do so. Without this, a screen reader probably won’t know you are trying to list something.

•Ensure any images have alternative text 

•Be sure you don’t rely on color to relay meaningful information

•Identify the language of the document 

Microsoft has a built-in accessibility checker that you can use better to navigate your way through understanding accessibility and Word.

Word has some pretty cool built-in features to help you better label, identify, and sort through data, content, and information to ensure that whether a reader is using a screen reader or is colorblind, they can get equal access to your document.

Protect your business

What’s one of the most appealing aspects of accessiBe offerings? Protection. 

Think of it as the best security time you have ever had for your company’s documents. Like a bodyguard ready to pounce at anything that doesn’t comply with accessibility standards.

accessiBe’s AI technology scans your site for potential accessibility issues before automatically fixing them using ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications). 

But here’s the meat. The juicy part we’ve been waiting for… you’ll also be protected and compliant with ADA, WCAG, Section 508, AODA guidelines, and more.