Accessible Documents: Ensuring Access for Everyone

We’ve all heard it before:

Make your documents accessible. Use headings. Add alt text. Don’t rely on color alone.

These are great starting points, but real inclusion doesn’t begin with fixing, it begins with designing for everyone from day one.

Accessibility is not a checkbox. It’s not a post-production edit. It’s a commitment to the principles of improving education for everyone, especially those who are most often excluded.

At FIU, we’re shifting the focus from minimum requirements to maximum impact. This shift will give you deeper dive into how inaccessible documents directly create academic barriers, how assistive technologies interact with your content and how you can build inclusive design into your everyday teaching tools—without starting from scratch.

Accessibility is Clarity, not Simplicity

Accessibility isn’t about watering things down, it’s about making things smoother for learners. Consider:

• A visually appealing syllabus in PDF format but created using text boxes and decorative fonts. It looks beautiful but can’t be read by a screen reader.
• An assignment sheet packed with long blocks of unbroken text and no structure. Every student will struggle to understand what’s expected—especially students with ADHD, dyslexia, or anxiety.

These are more than formatting flaws; they’re learning barriers. Most importantly, they’re avoidable learning barriers.

How Screen Readers Really Interact with Your Documents

FIU students using JAWS (Job Access With Speech), NVDA, or mobile screen readers rely on semantic structure to navigate documents. When that structure is missing, everything falls apart.

Common Problems

• Using bold text instead of true headings → JAWS sees all text as the same, making navigation impossible.
• Image-based PDFs → With no actual text to read, students must request conversions through DRC, causing delays.
• Tables used for layout → Screen readers might process content is read out of order.

Solutions

• Use Heading styles in Word, Google Docs and PowerPoint.
• Add meaningful alt text, not just “image or data table." Instead, try replacing “bar graph with data” with “Bar graph showing student enrollment increasing from 2020 to 2024.”
• Structure tables properly, and only use them for actual data, not layout.
• Export PDFs from source files instead of scanning them.
• Use Canvas Ally and Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker not just to catch errors, but to start understanding them.

Work Smarter, Not Harder by Converting Old Materials

Many faculty have years of accumulated content—handouts, lecture slides, PDFs—that weren’t created with accessibility in mind. You don’t have to start over, but you do have the responsibility to audit and convert material actively being used by students.

Tools You Have Access to:

• SensusAccess (Free at FIU): Upload a scanned or inaccessible file and convert it to accessible Word, MP3, or Braille.
• Canvas Ally: Shows your accessibility score for each uploaded file and gives step-by-step suggestions for improvement.
• Adobe Acrobat Pro: Use the “Accessibility” tools pane to tag, structure, and fix inaccessible PDFs. Want hands-on support? 
• JAWS: Curious how your content sounds through a screen reader? The DRC offers trainings to help faculty and staff test their materials using JAWS, the industry-standard screen reader. Even better, FIU provides free access to JAWS for all faculty, staff, and students.

The DRC offers faculty and staff training, reach out to learn how to make the most of these tools.

Remember to Include Cognitive & Executive Function Accessibility

Accessibility isn’t only about vision or hearing. It’s also about the processing of information.

Design Tips That Support All Learners

• Break content into clear sections with headers and white space.
• Use bulleted lists or numbered steps instead of large paragraphs.
• Provide both visuals and text explanations of key concepts.
• Ensure file names are descriptive and consistent (e.g., “Week2_Readings.pdf” vs. “Doc123”).

These design practices help students with ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety and even those simply overwhelmed by academic content. They also reduce emails, confusion and grading conflicts.

Build Accessibility into Academic Rigor

Accessible content isn't about lowering expectations. It’s about establishing a clear, accessible teaching strategy and using your content to fulfill that strategy.

Want to go further? Embed accessibility expectations into your grading rubrics, and model it in your materials. Students follow your lead.

Resources to Deepen Your Practice

• WAVE Evaluation Tool
• WebAIM Contrast Checker
• Microsoft Learn Accessibility Resources

Let’s Work Together

The DRC is here to support—not to police—your efforts. We believe faculty are partners in inclusion. Whether you’re revamping your syllabus, auditing a decade of handouts or experimenting with new tools, we’re ready to help. 

Contact the DRC