Digital Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The UVM Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) has begun reviewing the software that is purchased and/or in use on campus for accessibility. OAS provides technical accessibility reviews and recommendations to help departments and institutional leadership make informed decisions about technology accessibility. Responsibility for implementing accessibility requirements is shared across the institution. We use an industry-standard rubric to evaluate vendor-provided accessibility documentation, and are in the process of calibrating our process with other institutions across the nation. When software presents potential  accessibility barriers, OAS works with purchasing departments and units to proactively plan for how to address the situations.  

When accessibility barriers are identified, OAS works with the relevant departments and institutional partners to evaluate their impact, identify remediation opportunities, and determine whether appropriate interim measures are necessary. These situations are evaluated individually, consistent with UVM's accessibility obligations. 

A particular Brightspace accessibility score does not guarantee compliance. Automated accessibility checkers help identify certain barriers and guide remediation, but they can only catch 30-40% of all accessibility errors. Because of this, manual review is also needed. 

OAS is encouraging faculty to learn basic digital accessibility skills, such as measuring color contrast, adding alt-text, providing captions for videos, and transcripts for audio.

OAS is working with campus leadership to create resources and systems for departments and units to provide support for faculty so that digital accessibility conformance targets can be met and maintained. OAS is collaborating with campus partners to identify resources, training, and support structures that will help faculty meet accessibility expectations while recognizing the time and resources required. 

For writing and editing LaTeX, OAS recommends using either MathPix or the LaTeX Overleaf editor, and exporting to HTML or a .pdf. HTML provides the most accessible solution, as web browsers provide people with accessibilities with the most flexibility in terms of font formatting, color, family, and size, as well as a high degree of easy compatibility with assistive technology such as screen readers. While .pdfs are documents that provide multiple challenges for accessibility, OAS recognizes that they are still frequently used and depended on at the University. Overleaf and MathPix both create .pdfs with LaTeX that are “PDF-UA-ready", meaning that some of the accessibility work has been addressed by the software, leaving less items that need to be manually remediated. 

At the same time, OAS is aware that MathPix’ automated scanner for hand-written notes produces LaTeX equations that cannot be relied upon to be correct, and should be assumed to need manual editing. OAS is working with The LaTeX Project and the Daisy Math A11y group (authors of MathCAT), as well as calibrating Yuja Panorama’s capabilities in this area. OAS would love to hear from any faculty who are interested in pursuing this particular branch of digital accessibility research.  

The new Yuja Panorama automated accessibility checker that will replace Ally in Brightspace will also provide a way for instructors to create and distribute LaTeX equations in largely accessible documents. The LaTeX Tagging Project in particular provides guidelines for creating accessible .pdfs with LaTeX, as well as instructions as to how to use LaTeX to produce accessible .pdfs. 

For faculty who prefer to write MathML, OAS recommends the MathType Word document extension in combination with Microsoft’s Accessibility Assistant to generate accessible Word documents. 

OAS maintains the Creating Accessible Equations page on the UVM Accessibility Hub, and will provide additional guidelines as they become available. We encourage faculty to contact us directly with any specific questions or concerns. 

At this point, OAS is asking faculty to focus on making course materials accessible for the Spring 2027 semester, rather than spending time on the material from prior semesters. OAS is working with campus leadership groups to identify a solution for remediating materials from past semesters as a service to faculty, with as minimal labor overhead as possible. We will announce further plans later this fall. 

Code itself doesn’t have a particular set of legal or technical compliance requirements different from other websites, documents, or media; rather the guidelines for technical compliance pertain largely to the tools being used to write, edit, and read the code.  

It’s worth focusing on choosing tools that provide ways for users of assistive technology to access all language, including code.  

That said, there are ways to make code more useable (taken from standard inclusive typology guidelines) that we encourage instructors to incorporate into their teaching and learning practice: 

• Use short lines and adequate spacing to make long sessions spent reading code less of a strain on eyes. 

• Comment your code as much as will aid in documentation but avoid compromising any learning objectives. 

• Use plain language in coding assignments and in comments to code.  

Instructors should also consider whether code is provided as selectable text rather than images, whether the development environment supports keyboard navigation and assistive technology, and whether visual output such as graphs, plots, and diagrams is accompanied by appropriate accessible descriptions or alternatives. 

OAS maintains the Accessible Coding page on the UVM Accessibility Hub, and will provide additional guidelines as they become available.  

OAS recognizes that disciplines such as engineering, mathematics, and computer science present specialized accessibility challenges. We are interested in working with concerned faculty to identify practical guidance and resources for commonly used programming environments, including MATLAB, Python, and R. 

For PDF remediation, UVM provides free remediation services through the Office of Accessibility Services. These services are available for staff, faculty, students, or departments. You can find out more here: PDF Remediation Services. Additionally, beginning in January 2027, instructors who use Brightspace will be able to access Yuja Panorama, an automated accessibility checker that will provide some measure of PDF remediation as well.

The Office of Accessibility Services also provides free captioning services for all staff, faculty, students, or departments. You can find out more here: Captioning and Transcription Services. OAS also provides free audio description services for the campus, for videos that have no spoken dialogue, but do have visual information.

Is there funding, for example, for Adobe Suite individual licenses? 

Funding for the Adobe Suite of software is currently being examined by Enterprise Technology Services. They will announce what will be available under which model in Spring 2027.

The current UVM templates for PowerPoint presentations and event flyer creation in InDesign do not currently meet WCAG 2.1 AA-level standards for accessibility. The Office of Accessibility Services is working with UVM Strategic Communications to produce accessible versions of these templates.

However: an accessible template only stays accessible if the content that's added, or the changes that are made are themselves accessible. A 2017 Deque.com study found that 67% of accessibility errors found in electronic documents were due to user-added content, rather than the template or the software itself.

No, not all universities have the same deadline. The revised Title II regulations specify two different deadlines based on the size of the population that a university serves. Based on the size of the population that the University of Vermont serves, the UVM Office of General Counsel has confirmed that UVM's compliance deadline is April 2027. 

Smaller universities are given an additional year to comply; their deadline is April 2028.

Correctly formed and designed hyperlinks are a WCAG requirement under 2.1 AA level. The A-level standard 2.4.4 (Link Purpose in Context) applies to links. (A-level standards are accessibility fundamentals, AA-level standards are reasonable measures of accessibility. UVM is required to meet both A- and AA-level standards by April 2027.)

There are several parts of creating accessible hyperlinks: the design (including color), the text, and the destination.

Accessible Hyperlink Design

Links must have a unique format to them that makes it easy for users to tell whether any given text is a link or not. The most common and recommended way for links to be formatted is to give them a different color and to underline them. Blue (#013ECC) is the traditional color for links, but if you want to choose a different color for links, make sure that your chosen color has adequate color contrast with the background. This goes for documents, websites, and email newsletters.

Please note: UVM provides pre-formatted links on Drupal webpages, on WordPress webpages created using the central hosting sites (blog.uvm.edu, or sites.uvm.edu), and document templates.

Accessible Hyperlink Text

In order to be accessible, hyperlinked text should consist of the title of the destination, rather than the raw URL. This is because the text that is linked will be announced by screen readers regardless of whether a user follows the link or not. 

Here's an example:

• Do not use: https://www.uvm.edu/ctl/ctl-events
• Instead use: CTL events page. 

Additionally, make sure that the length of your link is 2-4 words long, rather than just one word. This is more of a best practice than a technical requirement, but it's important because some users have limited mobility in their hands and fingers. If you have a tiny one-word link, those users have to expend more energy on trying to land perfectly on that link in order to activate it.

Accessible Hyperlink Destinations

When you create a link, be sure to be clear about where the user will wind up if they choose that link. A good rule of thumb is to use a document or web page's title for the text of the link.

For example: 

• Do not use: click here.
• Instead use: Accessible Images & Alt-Text

Additionally, users should be able to determine what kind of destination they will reach if they click the link. The default assumption is that a link will lead to a webpage; if that's not the case, indicate what type of file will be opened via the link. 

For example: Audio-Recorded Lecture Agreement (.pdf). Because that link goes to a PDF, the link includes (.pdf) in parentheses as part of the link. Including the document type as part of the link ensures that the document type will be read as part of the link by a screen reader.

The best practice for naming files is to use:

• Natural language rather than obscure abbreviations
• Separate the pieces of the file name with dashes or underscores (not spaces)

And if you include a date, use the international standard for date nomenclature: YYYY-MM-DD.

go.uvm.edu links

When you create a go.uvm.edu link, it's a fantastic way to provide a short URL for your audience that has none of the length or extra characters or punctuation that a lot of raw URLs have. It's also a fantastic way to help promote the UVM brand, and to get high-level metrics on the number of users who make use of that link.

A good rule of thumb with go.uvm.edu links (and shortlink services in general) is to use natural language in your shortlinks, and to separate each natural language word with a dash (-). This will encourage screen readers to announce your short URL as separate, comprehendible words. When you create a shortlink with no dashes, the screen reader will announce everything after the forward slash as one word. 

For example, if you create the shortlink "go.uvm.edu/winterrallycatrace", screen readers will read "winter rally cat race" as "winterrallycatrace". Stop for a minute and say that out loud. Does it make sense? Is it friendly? And do you know without reading the URL whether it's "winter rally cat" or "winter ally cat"? Use dashes. 

Because Title II is a federal regulation, UVM is asking programs, departments, and teams to prioritize meeting accessibility remediation deadlines. Even before the April 2027 deadline, inaccessible websites, documents, multimedia, and courses put the University at risk of private legal action. 

Accessible Document Basics

The basic requirements for making a document accessible are as follows:

• Has a title in the metadata of the file
• Has had the language of the file set
• Has been checked to ensure adequate color contrast between text and its background, and between meaningful graphics and their backgrounds
• Has alt-text for any meaningful images; non-meaningful images have been marked decorative
• Has headings that include one and only one H1, and are correctly nested after that
• Has a table of contents or bookmarks for navigation if seven pages or longer
• Has a correct tab order and reading order
• Does not use a fixed-width layout
• Does not include images of text unless all that text has a selectable text alternative
• Tables, if present, have a header row or column, are being used for data (not layout), and don't contain merged cells
• Hyperlinks, if present, are accessibly formatted, and clearly indicate any destination
• Videos and audio, if present, have text alternatives available.

Learn more over at the Creating Accessible Documents page.

Accessible Multimedia Basics

Accessible Videos

In order to be accessible:

Videos that include spoken dialogue need to have a fully accurate closed-caption track. "Fully accurate" means that the closed captions reproduce the dialogue with a 100% accuracy rate, and include notations to indicate change of speaker, as well as representation of meaningful non-dialogue sounds, such as dog barking, laughter, doorbell ringing. Open captions are not accessible.

Videos that do not include spoken dialogue need to have a text alternative; UVM recommends an audio-described track. Audio description is an audio track where a narrator describes the action happening on screen for anyone who cannot see the action for themselves.

Below is an example of an audio-described version of a UVM Athletics highlight reel.

The UVM Office of Accessibility Services provides audio-description services for videos with no spoken dialogue, whether used as instructional materials or for marketing.

Accessible Audio

In order to be accessible:

Audio files that include spoken dialogue need to have a fully accurate transcript. "Fully accurate" means that the transcript reproduces the dialogue with a 100% accuracy rate, and includes notations to indicate change of speaker, as well as representation of meaningful non-dialogue sounds, such as dog barking, laughter, doorbell ringing. 

Audio files that do not include spoken dialogue need to have an appropriate text summary. For instance, if you include an audio file of whalesong (and no human-spoken dialogue), you would need to include a description somewhere nearby, indicating the contents of the audio file. For instance, "The audio at the link below provides a sample of different types of whalesong, including hoots, clicks, whistles, and long cries."

The UVM Office of Accessibility Services is working directly with the managers of UVM's Scholarworks archive to create a path for remediating the contents of the archive. The individual contributors of each paper are not responsible for remediating their own papers.

UVM is still determining the exact mechanism by which we will, as an institution, remediate all the items in historical Brightspace courses, but instructors and faculty are not required to go back and remediate their previous course material for accessibility. Instructors and faculty will be involved in remediation on a consultation basis, because they are the experts on their course materials, but the UVM Office of Accessibility Services is working with the ETS LMS Admin team and the UVM Office of Compliance on determining how the actual mechanism of remediation will work for historical courses. Please expect more information on this topic in late Fall 2026.

This is a surprisingly big question, with a four-part answer. 

1. First of all, everything boils down to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG (pronounced "wuh-KAG"). Those are the internationally assembled digital accessibility standards that are being codified into federal law under the new ADA Title II guidelines. 
2. Second, there are a number of automated tools that UVM is using to examine conformance with the WCAG standards. 
3. Third, there's UVM's new Office of Accessibility Services (OAS).
4. And finally, there's UVM's own staff and faculty themselves.

1. WCAG 2.1 AA-Level Standards

The WCAG standards are the very last word in metrics and standards as they relate to digital accessibility compliance. The WCAG are a living set of standards maintained by an international group known as the Worldwide Web Consortium, as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. Under the new ADA Title II guidelines, UVM, as a public entity, must meet the WCAG's AA-level standards, as spelled out in the 2.1 release. 

The WCAG publishes three levels of guidelines:

• A-level: the very basics needed for an item to be accessible
• AA-level: what is considered "reasonable" for digital accessibility, and
• AAA-level: what are considered the gold standards or best practices in digital accessibility

The AA-level guidelines include all of the A-level guidelines, and the AAA-level guidelines include the A-level and the AA-level guidelines. Again: UVM must meet the AA-level guidelines. These are the standards everything is measured against.

2. Automated Accessibility Checkers at UVM

UVM has invested in several different automated accessibility checkers, as different platforms require different tools. 

• For instructional materials hosted on Brightspace, beginning in December, UVM is measuring accessibility using Yuja Panorama. (The Anthology Ally tool will be sunset at that time).
• For websites, UVM will be using a combination of SiteImprove and the WAVE WebAim tool, depending on which publishing platform we're looking at.
• For .pdfs, UVM will be using the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC).
• For color contrast, UVM will be using TPGi's Colour Contrast Analyser.

However, as of 2026, automated accessibility checkers are only capable of detecting 30-40% of accessibility errors (source, source), the vast majority of accessibility errors (60-70%) must be identified by human beings.

3. The UVM Office of Accessibility Services (OAS)

And that's where the UVM Office of Accessibility Services comes in. In January 2025, UVM centralized all of its accessibility and disability accommodation services under one office: OAS. We're home to Student Accessibility Services, the Exam Proctoring Center, and the Digital Accessibility Resource Center. This last office is a new addition that centralizes the campus' general digital accessibility services. Including our Director, Sharon Mone, and the campus' Digital Accessibility Program Lead, Audrey Homan, and the team of student digital accessibility remediators.

OAS' Director and the Digital Accessibility Program Lead will be the people responsible for conducting the majority of the campus' manual accessibility audits of course instructional materials, websites, electronic documents, social media accounts, multimedia accounts, and email newsletters. 

But they're going to need help. And that's where you come in.

4. UVM Staff & Faculty

As you create and maintain digital materials in your area, UVM is asking staff and faculty to consider how accessibility plays into those materials, and to take the time to use the tools UVM has made available to measure the accessibility of those materials. For websites, OAS will be offering accessibility auditing courses in Spring 2027.