Transportation Library Quick Guide: Accessibility and Section 508: Making Reports Accessible

Templates

It is critical that reports are set up initially with attention to formatting requirements for accessibility. Remediating a noncompliant report after it is completed can be extremely costly and time-consuming.

A Microsoft Word report template and companion instructions to promote the creation of accessible documents were developed as a parallel effort to the development of this Quick Guide. These are freely available to anyone who wishes to use them.

Testing

To determine Section 508 accessibility compliance, a user should test a report, first in Microsoft Word format and then in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, using accessibility checkers built into Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat.

Instructions for launching accessibility checkers provided here may vary slightly based on the version of these programs in use. Very old versions of these programs may not have accessibility checkers.

Note that some aspects of accessibility, such as reading order of text, must be checked manually.

Microsoft Word

In Microsoft Word 2013, accessibility may be checked using the following method:

• From the File menu, select the Info submenu.
• Locate the Check for Issues drop-down list, and select Check Accessibility.

For additional guidance, see Accessibility Considerations: MS Word in this Quick Guide.

Adobe Acrobat

In Adobe Acrobat Pro 2019, accessibility may be checked using the following method:

• From the Tools menu, select the Accessibility submenu.
• Select Full Check, and then select Start Checking.

For additional guidance, see Accessibility Considerations: Adobe PDF in this Quick Guide.