To improve accessibility of PDFs faculty can:
Although NY State regulation says all digital materials are required to meet accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2) when they are available to the class, if you have not received sufficient technical support for this and you know of a user with a disability who needs this, please contact Library E-reserves as far ahead as possible. We will prioritize remediation for accessibility of the required course readings, based on due dates. In this case, we need citations and deadlines for readings. Remediating scanned PDFs can take about three weeks, unless we have prior requests or extenuating circumstances.
The Libraries' services do not replace any services or policies of Office of AccessABILITY. Please also contact them. Among other things, they provide support for accessibility of any hard copy books or materials your class is using, and specialized accommodations students may need beyond WCAG 2.2.
It may be helpful to know that, for a PDF to fully comply with accessibility standards, steps need to be taken using Adobe Acrobat DC (or competitors), which is freely available to CUNY employees, but complex to use. Adobe maintains a very lengthy guide to standards for PDF accessibility. For example,
While it will not be practical for most faculty to fully check or remediate PDFs for accessibility, some may be interested to explore this further.
Students may request accessible documents through Office of AccessABILITY. However, fully remediating some PDFs can be very complex and time consuming. Research suggests students with disabilities commonly do not obtain fully accessible PDFs. Beyond the steps listed above, faculty can help by: