• Toolkit for Planning Accessible Events at UCSF
  • Policy Requirements
  • Consultation and Guidance
• Planning Accessible Events
  • Hybrid Event Accessibility
• Responding to Requests for Accommodations
  • Potential Accommodation Requests and Definitions
• How to Schedule Accessibility Vendors
  • Non-exhaustive possible list of third-party vendors
• Accessible Publicity Materials
  • Accessible Documents and Presentations
• Preparing for ASL/CART Captioners at Your Event
  • Accessibility Considerations for Break-out Rooms
  • Final Accessibility Check: Day of Event Considerations
• After your event: Captioning and Audio Describing Videos
  • Non-exhaustive list of vendors
• UCSF Resources
  • Glossary of Terms
  • Acknowledgements
  • Works Cited

• Ensure your event website is accessible by testing it with the UCSF suggested 3-tier testing approach.
• Attend a UCSF Digital Accessibility Event.
• Have questions? Reach out to the UCSF Accessibility Community of Practice.

• Alternative text (known as alt text) provides a short, written description in place of images and other visual content (e.g., tables, graphs) in documents and websites.
• Alt text allows people who are blind or low-vision, and many other individuals who use assistive technology, to access the content of the image using a screen reader.

Tips for writing alt text:

• Describe the image in 1-3 sentences and add this as alt text.
• If text is displayed in the image, remember to include that text in the alt text.
• Be succinct. Use 150 characters or less.
• Avoid including "image of…" or "picture of…" in the alt text description, since that information is already provided by the screen reader.
• End the alt text with a period.

Learn more:

• UCSF Accessible Images Best Practices
• How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions

Tips for adding alt text on social media platforms:

• Facebook: Adding Alt Text in Facebook.
• Instagram: Adding Alt Text in Instagram.
• Twitter: Adding Alt Text in Twitter.
• LinkedIn: Adding Alt Text in LinkedIn.

• For any flyers or posters, always include a text-only version. The text-only version should accompany the flyer in emails, newsletters, and social media.
• A text-only version contains the text of the flyer or poster without any associated graphics or media files.
• If using Quick Response (QR) codes, include the content in the text-only version.

• Use plain language.
• Use shorter sentences and avoid using technical jargon whenever possible.
• Learn more:
  • Reading Level Checker.
  • About Plain Language.

• Use sans-serif fonts, such as Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet MS, Calibri, or Tahoma.
• Avoid serif fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia. UCSF uses Arial as a standard font.

• Use a strong color contrast between the background and text.
• Test the colors using a color contrast checker to ensure these meet requirements.
• Learn more:
  • Test color contrast: WebAIM Color Contrast Checker.
  • WebAIM Guidance on Contrast and Color Accessibility.

People with photosensitive epilepsy or other disabilities may have seizures triggered by animations that flicker, flash, or blink; avoid using these.

• Audio and video should be initiated by the user or with notice. Auto-play videos can be disruptive for some people, including those using screen readers.
• Avoid Zoom backgrounds with animation or movement as these may be triggering or dizzying to people with disabilities.

• The purpose of descriptive links is to provide the user with the context of where clicking the link will take them.
• Use descriptive links by writing what the link will do, for example:
  • Good example: Subscribe to the Disability Allies Newsletter.
  • Poor example: Click here.
• Avoid words such as "click here" or "learn more."

• Language choices can perpetuate stigma, increase marginalization, and contribute to negative perceptions of people with disabilities. Language choice can also contribute to a welcoming environment.
• Learn more: Ableist words and terms to avoid by Autistic Hoya, Lydia X. Z. Brown.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of disability inclusive stock images:

• Disabled and Here: disability-led stock image and interview series celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).
• Disability:IN: disability inclusive stock photography.

• If you are sharing a video on a social media platform, ensure the video is captioned so that all spoken words are transcribed.
• You can edit automatically generated captions, or you can request a professional third-party captioning service.

• Capitalize the first letter of each word in the hashtag.
• Place hashtags at the end of your post, rather than in the body of your text.
• Examples:
  • Good example: #UniversityOfCalifornia.
  • Poor example: #universityofcalifornia.

Use emojis sparingly. While emojis have built-in alt text, they can often be long and distract from your message.

• Microsoft Office products like PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Outlook have a built-in Accessibility Checker that will inform you of any issues and how to fix them.
• Run the Accessibility Checker to ensure your content is easy for people with disabilities to access and understand.
• To launch the Accessibility Checker:
  • Select Review > Check Accessibility.
  • The Accessibility pane opens, and you can review and fix accessibility issues.

• Any image, graphic, or logo needs to have a text description so that users who are blind or have low vision can understand its content.
• Graphs should also have alt text. For simple graphs, the alt text should include a summary of the data represented. For more complex graphs, the data can be represented in an accessible Word document.
• To add alt text to Microsoft Word document or PowerPoint:
  • Right click the image > select Edit Alt Text.
  • Select Format > Alt Text.
  • Add alt text to your image or visual content.

Check the reading order of your slides using the Accessibility Checker. This will help ensure that the content of your slides can be read in the order that you intend.

To check the reading order in PPT:

• With your presentation open, select Review > Check Accessibility.
• Select the Check reading order category in the Warnings section to open the list.  
• Point at a slide number in the list, then select the adjoining drop-down arrow.
• Select the Verify object order command.

To change the order of objects in the reading order:

• If the order of the objects isn't logical, people using screen readers will have a difficult time understanding the slide.
• To change the order that the objects are read in:
  • Select one or more items in the list.
  • Drag the selection upward or downward or click the up arrow (Move Up) or down arrow (Move Down).
  • Learn more: Using the Reading Order Pane.

• Use accessible, sans-serif fonts such as Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, or Roboto. Avoid serif fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia.
• For digital documents and websites, use a minimum font size of 12pt.
• For presentations, like Power Points, use a minimum font size of 24pt when possible.
• For large print documents that will be printed, use a minimum font size of 18pt.
• Use a strong color contrast between the background and text.

• Headings (h1 through h6) can help you create content hierarchy for better readability and are key to making information accessible to users with disabilities.
• When your headings are properly formatted, people using screen readers can skip to page titles, relevant sub-headings, or search results with just a few keystrokes.
• To add a heading in Microsoft Word:
  • Select the text and right click on it.
  • Go to the "Format" menu and choose "Style."
  • Choose the appropriate level heading style such as "Heading 1," Heading 2," "Heading 3."

• Table of contents help all users navigate around a document more efficiently.
• For long documents, include a table of contents.
• To add a table of contents in Microsoft Word:
  • Select the "References" tab in the ribbon menu and choose "Table of Contents"
  • Choose a style from the formatting options
  • Properly formatted headings will automatically populate in your table of contents (another reason it's important to create properly formatted headings)
  • Page numbers will be automatically generated within the table of contents, but not inserted onto the pages themselves. To create page numbers, select the "Insert" tab and select "Page Numbers."

• Start with an accessible document before converting to PDF.
• To create an accessible PDF, it must follow the guidelines listed in this toolkit, including proper headings, alt text, and reading order.
• Follow WebAIM's guidelines to learn How to Create Accessible PDFs or Adobe PDF Pro Guide for Accessibility for step-by-step instructions.
• When you save your document as a PDF, make sure to "Save As PDF" (do not print to PDF). This will ensure that all your accessibility "tags" are preserved in the PDF.