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Creating an Accessible Campus: Accessibility Resources

Oct. 13, 2019
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Creating an accessible environment requires everyone to participate. As a student on campus, you'll inevitably find yourself in a position to contribute to this environment, whether it's giving a presentation in class, coordinating with group members on projects, running events in your club/sports activities or even in a role as a teaching assistant.

If you've never used the accessibility checker in Word or organized a student event before, taking accessibility into account can seem more complicated than it really is. If you're unsure, feel free to ask for help! The Equity and Accessibility office can answer any questions or concerns you might have.

Running Events

With a bit of pre-planning and forethought, creating accessible events can be easy. Creating accessible events helps you to simply create better events and ensure you're reaching your entire audience effectively.

The resources below will help you think about event planning – like the way you advertise, collect data on participants and their needs, organize the event and collect feedback afterward.

Documents, Presentations and Communications

Did you know the typical Microsoft software you likely use in your day-to-day already has existing accessibility features you can easily access? These features allow everyone to create, communicate and collaborate on any device.

Tips and Tricks

  • Get into the habit of running an accessibility checker on your documents. It's built into the software and will highlight sections that need to be edited, identifying the issue.
  • Your text should be size 11 or larger and avoid the use of colours that don't provide a strong contrast to the background. Sans-serif fonts (ie. Calibri) work best with magnification software.
  • Avoid the use of any images containing text (ie. jpeg of a poster) – this "text" is really an image that is unreadable by screen readers.
  • Ensure each image has alternative text, making your description as clear and concise as possible.
  • Keep your tables simple and ensure the reading order of the table cells makes sense by starting in the top left and hitting tab. Refrain from using any split or merged cells.
  • Use headings and borders around your text, instead of tables, to create separation or draw attention to certain sections of text.
  • Check your PowerPoint presentations in the outline view, making sure the outline text accurately reflects the slide text and can be picked up by screen readers.

How-to Guides

Microsoft offers various resources online to help you get started. This includes their Inclusive Office 365 guide and their Office Accessibility Center.

Take a look at the resources below and see how you can make some simple adjustments when you go about creating your Word documents, PowerPoints or emails.

Word

PowerPoint

Outlook

Excel

OneNote