Accessibility News
Change happens but accessibility work carries on
By Alice Huyler (she/her), Senior Policy Advisor, OIT Rulemaking
Why did the accessibility expert stay calm? Because they knew that with the right tools, everyone could find their way!
Maybe not the funniest joke, but it is a good reminder about the status of digital accessibility in the midst of a flurry of activity at the federal level. Please keep going and stick to the mission of providing accessible government technology in Colorado.
You may be wondering how accessibility has been impacted by federal actions in the past several weeks. The federal disability rights statutes and rules have not changed. And in Colorado we have our own disability rights statutes and regulations, which also have not changed. State and local government entities in Colorado continue to have a responsibility to make their technology accessible to comply with the law found in Colorado Revised Statutes section 24-34-802 and the rules established by OIT.
Remember that you can be considered in compliance with the rules if you:
- Provide reasonable accommodations or modifications
- Have a published accessibility statement
- Provide evidence of making good faith progress on your plan to remove accessibility barriers (Google Doc).
We’re always keeping a close watch on state and federal laws related to accessibility. We’ll keep you informed of any changes and work together to address them. We have the tools to find our way together!
Accessibility Essentials
Optical Character Recognition Tool in Acrobat
By Rosa Calabrese, TAP Senior Accessibility Trainer
When creating accessible PDFs, begin with an accessible document in a word processing program, then export the file with tags so that remediating in Adobe Acrobat is simple and straightforward. However, it is not always possible to begin projects with documents that are already mostly accessible. For example, documents that are not in a digital format to begin with. For hard copy documents that need to be made available in an accessible digital format, the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool in Adobe Acrobat can help.
To help turn scanned documents into digitally accessible ones, TAP created a new How To use OCR in Adobe Acrobat resource in the Accessible Documents Toolkit.
OCR identifies text in a document using a pattern recognition algorithm and that text can be used to create document tags. Be aware that the results of using OCR can vary greatly depending on how clear the text is. For example, decorative text styles, which TAP recommends avoiding because they are difficult to read, may also be difficult for the program to decipher accurately. Scans that have low resolution, low contrast, or other image quality issues may require additional manual review even after using OCR. Once you have begun to “Recognize Text” in the file, you can choose to “Correct Recognized Text” which will allow you to confirm or edit any unclear or misidentified content.
You can add tags once the OCR is complete. Open the tags panel and right-click on “No Tags Available.” From there, you can select “Create Tags Root” to add tags manually, or select “Autotag Document” to edit the auto-generated tags from Acrobat. Note that even if you autotag the document, human review is still necessary to ensure that tags are used correctly.
Accessibility Tips
Document Accessibility: Understanding Relevant Disabilities
By Rosa Calabrese (she/her), TAP Senior Accessibility Trainer
Document accessibility and remediation is always a hot topic of digital accessibility. TAP is launching a new monthly column with tips and guidance to help demystify accessible document creation and remediation.
Like other digital materials, documents must be accessible to people with disabilities per accessibility laws including HB21-1110. Certain disabilities will be more relevant than others to consider when designing accessible documents, and understanding these topics will hopefully make it simpler to understand important considerations for document remediation.
- Screen reader users. Screen reader users access digital content using programs such as JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver, which allow them to listen to document content, skip between sections, select links and fill out forms. Document creators must ensure the screen reader experience is comparable to the experience of users who don’t require screen readers. For example, document creators should tag all elements of the document that need to be read out loud, provide alternative text to images, use descriptive links, delete empty tags and indicate decorative elements.
- People with low vision. Designing for people with low vision means using easy to read font styles, adequate color contrast and allowing for the reflow of text in Adobe Acrobat. The Reflow tool allows text to be enlarged without requiring the user to scroll horizontally, much the same way that websites with responsive design allow users to view the same content on a desktop as on mobile without scrolling. Document creators must ensure that elements of a document are listed in the correct order for them to reflow logically.
- People with physical disabilities. Physical disabilities (also known as motor disabilities) that impact a person’s hands can impact how a person interacts with their computers and mobile devices. For example, some people with physical and motor disabilities may use keyboard shortcuts or other assistive technologies instead of the mouse or trackpad to access online content. Documents should be properly tagged so users can tab through elements using their keyboards and designers should avoid including elements that are only available to people using a mouse or trackpad.
- People with cognitive disabilities. Designing documents to be accessible for people with cognitive disabilities is often less straightforward. It may mean including space between lines of text and between paragraphs, never fully justifying type, and breaking up large blocks of text with graphics when possible. Awareness of cognitive disabilities also includes writing in plain language, defining acronyms, and using clear labels on form fields.
Understanding how different disabilities may impact a person’s digital experience will help guide accessible document creation and get us closer to a Colorado for All.
Upcoming events
axe-con 2025 Digital Accessibility Conference
Dates: Feb. 25-27, 2025
Location: Virtual
From Deque’s axe-con Building Accessible Experiences Conference web page: axe-con is the world’s largest digital accessibility conference. We welcome developers, designers, business users, and accessibility professionals of all experience levels to a unique conference experience focused on building, testing, and maintaining accessible digital experiences. Registration is free and open.
Notable & Quotable
“Innovation. That's what accessibility means to me. . . if we can start putting accessibility first in our design and development processes, we're going to make better products that are more innovative for everybody.”
- Charlie Triplett, Sr. Accessibility Coach with 20 years of UX design and UI engineering experience; author of TheBookOnAccessibility.com