Many companies rely on digital documents (PDFs, ePubs, Word Documents, PowerPoints, etc.) for a variety of reasons, but especially to communicate internally within an organization and externally to customers. Did you know these digital documents may need to achieve compliance with accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.0 AA and/or WCAG 2.1 AA?
TestPros employs experts who are seasoned in digital document accessibility compliance services and has assisted hundreds of organizations like yours meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Section 508, Section 504, and Title III, compliance.
Do my documents need to be accessible?
If your organization falls under Section 508, Section 504, and/or Title III, all of your digital documents are likely required to be accessible, including but not limited to:
- PDF documents
- Microsoft Office documents (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Brochures
- eBooks (ePub)
- Many more…
Any digital document that is housed, distributed, or appears electronically and is available to either members of the public or your own staff must meet Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA level standards.
This is a large task as many companies have hundreds, if not thousands of digital documents they use every day in normal operation.
Why should we make our documents accessible?
Just like websites, people with disabilities need access to your companies digital documents. Some examples:
- Users with blind/low vision impairments rely on assistive technologies – such as screen readers – to access these documents.
- Those with motor impairments or limited mobility rely on keyboard use to navigate documents.
- People with cognitive disabilities use special reading software that allows them to more easily read and follow along with the information provided within your documents.
There are a wide range of people with varying needs and if your documents are not created with accessibility in mind, you are preventing people with disabilities from accessing the information provided.
Lack of compliance may rise to the level of discrimination as well, which increases the risks of EEOC complaints and/or lawsuits.
How do we make our documents accessible?
Making your digital documents accessible can be difficult at worst and tedious at best. Automated tools can only handle simple documents with basic text and heading markup. Other documents, like PDF forms, require manual editing in order to meet compliance.
Manual tools such as Adobe Acrobat Pro and Abbyy Finereader can be difficult to work with as accessibility tools for documents have not kept pace with the demands of federal guidelines. The good news is TestPros employs experts who have years of experience working with these tools in order to assist you with your organization’s digital document accessibility compliance needs.
TestPros Process
TestPros uses a streamlined process to ensure your documents are fully accessible. We use industry software such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, inDesign, Abbyy Finereader, Microsoft Office Products, and a host of other products to go through your documents page by page and create an accessible version of your document. Some of the elements we are able to remediate includes, but is not limited to:
- Adding heading tags to visual headings
- Tagging text, bullets, and other basic content for accessibility
- Adding alt text to images, and long descriptions to more complex elements such as charts, or info graphics
- Editing tables for accessibility
- Adding tillable form fields to form elements
- Identifying document language, adding titles, etc.
- Ensure color contrast meets federal standards
These are just a few of the enhancements we make to your documents to ensure accessibility.
We can also convert harder documents such as scanned text into more accessible versions. As well as converting your documents into other formats to better meet the needs of your staff and clients.
TestPros offers full life-cycle services for digital document accessibility compliance, to include but not limited to: initial accessibility assessments / gap analyses, accessibility regression testing, integration of automated testing solutions in CI/CD pipelines, remediation of non-compliant software and documents, and training.
Ensure your documents are accessible
Making your digital documents accessible can be difficult at worst and tedious at best. Automated tools can only handle simple documents with basic text and heading markup. Other documents, like PDF forms, require manual editing to meet compliance.
TestPros employs experts who have years of experience working with these tools to assist you with your organization’s digital document accessibility compliance needs. Let us help you get started today!
