Register for Session 5 — Getting Started with PDF Accessibility (via Zoom)
Description: PDFs are widely used but often riddled with accessibility issues. This session will walk you through the essentials of creating and converting PDFs with accessibility in mind. Learn about tagging for screen readers, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for scanned documents, and the best ways to export accessible PDFs from Word, Google Docs, and other tools.
Recommended: Register for Session 6 — PDF Accessibility in Practice (via Zoom) to apply the concepts from Session 5 during this workshop.
Document Accessibility Workshop Series Summary
Creating accessible digital content isn’t just about compliance—it’s about ensuring equitable access for all users. With over 50 million people in the U.S. experiencing cognitive or vision-related disabilities, inaccessible documents, presentation slides, and PDFs can create unnecessary barriers. This practical workshop series will help participants design, validate, and remediate accessible documents using word processing (Microsoft Word, Google Docs), presentation slides (PowerPoint, Google Slides), and PDFs (Adobe Acrobat Pro). This series will cover both the “Getting Started” foundational concepts and provide “In Practice” practical application opportunities, ensuring that users have the information and practice needed to make content more inclusive and user-friendly across digital platforms.
Presenter
Michele Joy Bromley, MA, ADS, CPWA, is a digital accessibility and inclusivity specialist, currently supporting the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Portland State University (PSU) as the manager of the Digital Accessibility and Content team. Michele is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) and Accessible Document Specialist (ADS) through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). Her primary areas of expertise are project and change management, enterprise service management, and accessible digital procurement, design, validation, remediation, and incident response. She has presented on these topics for the Postsecondary Disability Training Institute, the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), AHEAD’s Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference (Accessing Higher Ground), and EDUCAUSE.