WebAIM Document Accessibility Training

Build your skills, expand your impact, and help ensure everyone can access the information you create.

We’re excited to offer a two-day Document Accessibility Training led by expert instructors from WebAIM, a nationally recognized leader in digital accessibility. This hands-on training will provide practical techniques you can apply right away to make your documents more accessible, usable, and compliant.

What You’ll Learn

During this interactive training, participants will learn how to create and remediate accessible documents in:

Microsoft Word
PowerPoint
PDF

Topics will include:

Structuring documents for accessibility
Using headings, lists, and tables correctly
Writing meaningful alternative text
Creating accessible slide presentations
Converting and remediating PDFs using Adobe Acrobat Pro*

Overview

Principles of and motivations for document accessibility
Overview of WCAG 2
Overview of legal requirements
Office "Check Accessibility" feature
- Combining automated and manual evaluation
User experience and assistive technologies

Creating accessible Word documents and PowerPoint presentations

Headings in Word
- Create headings
- Change the appearance of headings
Images and alternative text
- Decorative images
- Complex images
- Image placement
Tables
Links
Lists
Columns
Language
Structure and reading order in PowerPoint
- Slide layouts
- Reading order
- Slide Master

Additional accessibility principles

Low vision and contrast
Color blindness and color use
Auditory disabilities and multimedia
Cognitive and learning disabilities

PDF and Acrobat

Principles of accessible PDFs
- PDF "content" vs. PDF "tags"
- Source documents
Creating PDFs in Office and Acrobat
- Document title in the source document
Accessibility Tools in Acrobat DC Pro*
- Accessibility tags pane
- Accessibility tools pane
- Check Accessibility
- Reading Order Tool
Repair PDF structure
- Change tags
- Hide decorative images and content
- Add tags to untagged content
- Table editor
Verify and repair PDF order
- Content order
- Tags pane order
Misc. principles of PDF accessibility. Topics will vary based on time and questions, but may include the following:
- Complex tables
- Complex images
- Forms

* Contact your departmental distributed IT staff to have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed on your UB computer prior to the training.

Training Details

Dates: May 20 & May 21
Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (each day, with a one-hour lunch break)
Format: Live, online, instructor-led sessions with opportunities for questions and hands-on practice

Who Should Attend

This training is ideal for:

Faculty and instructors
Staff who create or share documents
Communications professionals
Anyone interested in improving digital accessibility

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to strengthen your skills, this training will meet you where you are.

Why Attend?

Accessible documents benefit everyone. By attending, you will:

Improve usability for all audiences, including people with disabilities
Support compliance with accessibility standards
Increase the clarity and effectiveness of your materials
Gain confidence working with accessibility tools and techniques

Funding Support

This training is made possible through a grant from SUNY, providing a valuable opportunity to build accessibility skills across our community.

Questions

For additional information, please contact Mary Henesey at henesey@buffalo.edu.

Registration

Registration is required. Space may be limited, so early registration is encouraged.