Getting Started with Digital Accessibility
Your first step towards inclusive design.
UND recognizes that accessibility is a continuous journey that requires us to adapt to changing standards and technologies. While it can feel overwhelming, progress is built over time. It is important to remember that accessibility is a journey that we are all on together, and you don’t have to navigate it alone. There are numerous resources available to guide you along the way.
Review Your Current Content
- Check your overall Blackboard Ally score in each of the courses you are currently teaching. Don’t worry about courses you you’ve taught in the past or courses that you will be teaching far in the future. Focus on the present needs that you can fix for the upcoming semester.
- Identify the types of resources that are in your course. Very few courses made use ALL resource types. You don't need to look at every single document and document type in a course. Instead, survey which document types you work with most.
- Identify and focus on a representative sample of these document types. We recommend that you identify documents that you can edit in their original software/programs - Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc.
- Check the Blackboard Ally guidance for each of the items you have chosen. What issues does Ally identify for your content? What terminology do you need to know? You don’t have to fix anything yet. Get acquainted with the terminology and issues; you can't hope to fix what you don't know the issue.
Remove Outdated or Irrelevant Content
Eliminating outdated or irrelevant content helps streamline the user experience by ensuring that only essential and accurate information is presented. This makes it easier for assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to navigate the document without distractions.
Replace PDFs and Spreadsheets
- Replace PDFs and Spreadsheets with more accessible file types like Word or PowerPoint. PDFs are incredibly difficult to make accessible; remediation requires considerable time, talent, and finances.
- Replace PDFs with Permalinks. If you've downloaded a PDF from the UND library system's database or another website, use a permalink. Permalinks offer an alternative to sharing inaccessible PDFs on your course page. Rather than uploading a copy of an inaccessible article, you can link learners directly to an article’s bibliographic record in a database.
Learn Accessibility Best Practices
- Enroll in TTaDA's 10-Step Accessibility Challenge. This self-paced Blackboard Ultra course is designed to introduce you to Blackboard Ally and some of the common accessibility issues it identifies. There is no set path through the 10-Step Accessibility Challenge – you can pick and choose whichever issue you are tackling, watch the video content, and apply the fix to your own document or resource. This is really a choose your own adventure. The course is free to use.
- Consult the Quick Guide to Improving Document Accessibility. This quick guide (below) highlights ten simple, actionable steps you can take to improve accessibility. As you progress in your accessibility journey, consider adding more nuanced accessibility measures outlined on the Document Accessibility page.
- Explore Common Accessibility Issues. This page breaks down the common accessibility issues that affect various types of content, including websites, PDFs, and other document formats. Understanding these fundamental issues can help you make changes that ensure all users can access and engage with your content effectively.
- Participate in accessibility trainings and workshops. Not only does TTaDA offer the 10-Step Accessibility Challenge, TTaDA staff also routinely offers a range of workshops designed to support your accessibility journey.
Seek Help
Visit our Help and Support page for more assistance.
- Submit an Accessibility Assistance Ticket
- Request an Instructional Design Consult
- Book an Appointment with the Accessibility Lab
- Connect with campus resources like the Equal Opportunity and Title IX office and the Student Disability Resources Office.
Accessibility Tips
- Accessibility is a marathon, not a sprint. Apply yourself, but don’t be afraid to stop, catch your breath, and walk. Learn one or two easier fixes, then stop. Come back later and learn another one or two slightly harder fixes, then stop. Give yourself plenty of time to redesign, rework, or completely replace inaccessible course resources, if needed.
- Don’t be afraid to make "fixes" multiple times. Any skill worth learning takes practice. For example, you might find making your syllabus accessible to be daunting at first. By your second, third, or fourth syllabus, though, you’ll be a pro. AND you’ll be able to apply the same fixes to other Word documents. Once you’ve done it a few times and learned what works for you and what doesn’t, it will become more second nature.
- Accessibility is never easy, but it is habit forming. We don’t expect any of this accessibility journey to be “easy.” But we do know that it can become a good habit and closer to second nature to think about adding alt-text to an image, check your headings, or embed a hyperlink in some meaningful text.
- Plan out your accessibility journey before you take it.
- For all the perfectionists out there: We are aiming for improvement, not perfection. There is no such thing as the “perfect” accessibility journey, and waiting for perfection will just stall your progress before it gets started. Instead, aim for small gains that build into larger, more visible signs of progress. Mistakes are OK – they show that you are trying to improve and that you are moving forward.
Quick Guide to Improving Document Accessibility
Accessibility can seem challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. There are several simple, actionable steps you can take to ensure that everyone, including people with disabilities, can effectively access and understand your content. The Quick Guide to Improving Document Accessibility highlights ten of these steps. You might be surprised at how easy and effective these changes can be!
Use structured heading levels (e.g., Heading 1, Heading 2) to create a clear outline for your document. Descriptive headings help readers, especially those using assistive technologies, navigate the content efficiently.
Use built-in list styles to create numbered and bulleted lists instead of manually formatting with numbers, symbols, or tabs. Avoid excessive bullet levels, as each level is announced by screen readers (e.g., “list level 1, list level 2”) and can overwhelm users, making navigation difficult.
Provide concise and meaningful alternative text for all images. This text should convey the same information to a user that an image would. This ensures that users who rely on screen readers understand visual elements in your documents.
Ensure all multimedia content includes captions and/or transcripts. This makes your content accessible to individuals with hearing impairments and/or those who cannot access audio.
Write link text that clearly describes the destination or purpose of the link (e.g., “Download the accessibility checklist” instead of “Click here”). This ensures all users can easily understand and navigate your document.
Keep tables simple by using headers to define rows and columns. Avoid using tables for layout purposes. Additionally, avoid merged cells and complex table designs that can confuse assistive technologies. This approach improves accessibility without requiring extensive adjustments, particularly in PDFs.
Ensure that text, diagrams, charts, and other meaningful content meet a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text. For large text (18+ pt or 14+ pt bold), a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 is acceptable. Use online contrast checkers like WebAIM to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.
Choose sans-serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Calibri, as they are easier to read. Use a font size of at least 12 pt for body text and 20 pt for presentations to ensure readability for people with visual impairments.
Convert scanned PDFs and images into searchable text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This allows users to find and read text with screen readers or search tools.