Digital Accessibility

Ensure that all the digital content and mobile app materials you share are accessible to comply with Reed’s digital accessibility policy.

Accessible materials have specific design elements that allow a wide range of users to use them, such as structured headings for navigation; high-contrast and enlargeable text; text that can be read aloud by a screen reader; and captions or transcripts for video and audio content.

Everyone is responsible for their own content. This includes all faculty and staff. 

If you have been given content to post on someone else's behalf, and you notice that it has accessibility issues, please communicate with the content creator about how best to resolve the issues.

Consider the purpose and audience for your material. If the material is required to participate in the college’s programs or activities (classes, events, clubs, etc.) and is to be made available to others online or through a mobile app, then it needs to meet the accessibility standards—no matter where you create it.

Read about exceptions below.

For questions that aren’t covered by the policy or this web page, feel free to reach out to accessibility@reed.edu.

Exceptions to making our digital content accessible will be very rare, but there are some things that exceptions may be made for. To seek an exception, please follow the instructions in the exception request form.

Exception requests will be reviewed as they come in and on a rolling basis. Please submit your request(s) as soon as possible. 

• Undue financial burden: When considering whether making something accessible is an undue financial burden, we need to consider all the resources available to/at the institution. For this reason, it’s very rare for something to constitute an undue financial burden.
• Undue administrative burden: An undue administrative burden is a high bar according to the Office for Civil Rights. For something to be considered an undue administrative burden, it likely would need to be logistically impossible or not feasible to accomplish.
• Fundamental alterations: If making a piece of digital content accessible would compromise the nature of its service, program, or activity, that could constitute a fundamental alteration. Fundamental alterations could include impacts like lowering an academic standard or students being unable to reach a learning objective because of the change. When a fundamental alteration is in question, we often consider whether there is an alternative means of making the content accessible before abandoning the effort to provide an accessible version of the material altogether.

• Use headings to break a long document into sections.
• Avoid relying on visual formatting alone, such as bold text or larger font size, to organize content. Instead, use the built-in headings and style formatting options. 

Learn more about creating accessible headings and lists.

• Choose high-contrast colors, especially for text or graphics that communicate information.
• Do not use color alone to communicate meaning.

Learn more about using color carefully.

• Avoid images of text. To check that your text is accessible, try to highlight/select it with your cursor.
• The defaults for text formatting options (for example, font type and size) are usually accessible.
• Avoid typing in all caps.

Videos should include captions to ensure accessibility for all viewers.

Learn more about video captions.

Use clear, descriptive link text so people know where a link will take them. Avoid phrases like “click here.”

Learn more about writing meaningful link text.

Provide a concise text description (alternative text) of any image that communicates information or serves a purpose other than decoration. 

Learn more about adding alternative text.

Cascade Users: See Web Accessibility Best Practices

• Avoid creating PDFs when possible. Word documents, Google Docs, and text in webpages and Moodle are generally more accessible alternatives. Google Forms and Etrieve are good alternatives to PDF forms.
• Course instructors should request course materials through the e-reserves system to improve accessibility. Scanned PDFs often do not meet accessibility requirements.