Curating Accessible Documents

There are a lot of excellent resources on the internet, and you may have a file of resources you have collected over the years, too! There are also a lot of poorly-designed and inaccessible resources!  When curating documents (to select and use a document made by someone else), you need to be 100% sure the document is accessible. Regardless of your operating system, here's a quick checklist for accessibility:

1. Open the document in your word-processor of choice (be sure you are using the most up-to-date software).
2. Run the accessibility report, then examine any issues that were discovered.
3. Do a manual check--move your cursor through the elements of the document and check for:
   1. headers
   2. properly formatted lists
   3. meaningful links
   4. alt text
   5. formatted tables
4. Use the online tool to check for color contrast errors.

Finally, it's a good time to remember that when we use documents from other sources, we are not only responsible for ensuring the document is accessible, but also for ensuring we are complying with copyright and fair use. If you pulled the document from an internet source, check to see if it has a Creative Commons Links to an external site. license. In all cases, model the ethical use of materials for your students by including a citation and a link to the original document, when appropriate.