Breadcrumb
Accessibility Toolbox
Welcome to the Accessibility Toolbox, a resource designed to support faculty in creating
accessible and inclusive learning environments for all students. Below, you will find
tools, guidelines, and resources to help ensure that your course materials and digital
content are accessible to all students.
While this page offers a variety of resources for making your digital content accessible, please note that the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) is your primary support resource at the University of Central Missouri for any questions or assistance related to accessibility accommodations.
Accessibility Information and Resources
ADA.gov
Disability rights are civil rights. The ADA is a law that protects people with disabilities in many areas of public life in many varied ways.
From answers to common questions to official legal documents, ADA.gov has everything
you need to understand your rights and responsibilities under the ADA.
ADA Title II Requirements and Resources
Ensure your web content, and mobile apps are accessible.
Fact Sheet (ADA.gov):
New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments
2025 ADA Web Accessibility Standards & Requirements
How ADA Compliance Requirements Apply to Websites
ADA Compliance Requirements & Road Map for Higher Ed
Office of Civil Services - Video Series
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is proud to announce a
video series covering a variety of topics on digital access in education, including
how people with disabilities use technology, applicable Federal regulations, and identifying
and remediating barriers to access. Whether you are in the educational field or not,
these videos have wide-ranging coverage for those who want to know: What makes technology
accessible for individuals with disabilities? And how can I make my site or platform
more accessible?
Research Brief: Higher Education and the ADA
With the ADA in effect for almost three decades, there is a growing number of students with disabilities going to college. In fact, estimates show that 19% of undergraduate students and 12% of graduate students have disabilities. Access to higher education is a vital part of the ADA’s broader social promise to promote equal access and full participation in all aspects of US society; especially considering that postsecondary education is often a pre-requisite for many jobs in the U.S.
UCM Accessibility Notice and Procedures
The Office of Accessibility Services provides persons with disabilities equal access
to the functions and facilities of the University of Central Missouri. Concerns regarding
access to the campus and campus activities should be directed to the Office of Accessibility
Services.
UCM's Office of Accessibility Services
The Office of Accessibility Services partners with students who have documented disabilities to provide equitable learning opportunities by identifying appropriate accommodations based on each student's individual needs.
PDFs exported from Canva do not meet accessibility requirements. It is strongly recommended not to use Canva to create PDFs. A PDF exported from Canva will require extensive remediation to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Remediation of PDFs is best done using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
You can also use your UCM Gemini account to upload images and request assistance drafting alt text. (Ensure you are logged into Gemini with your @ucmo.edu account before uploading anything to Gemini.)
You can also visit the official WCAG 2 Overview site for full information about the standards.
Color Contrast Checker
This color contrast checker helps educators ensure accessible design in digital content by testing color combinations for readability according to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. It provides a visual tool to check text and background contrast ratios, making it useful for creating accessible slides, documents, and online materials that meet inclusivity requirements.
Accessibility Documentation Specific to UCM's Digital Environments
Editing Closed Captions in Brightspace's Video Notes
This document will show you how to navigate and edit closed captions in any Video/Audio Notes that you create in Brightspace.
YuJa Panorama
YuJa Panorama is an accessibility tool designed for higher education institutions to improve the accessibility of digital course content. It integrates with Learning Management Systems (LMS) to automatically scan documents and provide alternative formats (such as audio, braille, HTML, and ePub), accessibility scores, and real-time feedback for instructors. This empowers educators to create more inclusive learning environments and helps institutions meet ADA and WCAG compliance standards. Panorama's accessibility checker is more comprehensive than the accessibility checkers embedded in Microsoft applications. While Microsoft does a good job of identifying basic accessibility concerns, Panorama flags accessibility issues designed to create inclusive learning environments by ensuring all content is accessible to all learners, regardless of their accessibility needs.
Panorama Accessibility Tool Overview
This guide will walk you through using Yuja Panorama, Brightspace’s integrated accessibility
checker, to identify and remediate common accessibility issues in your course.
Accessing the Panorama Alternative Formats Menu
Resolving Word (docx) WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
The Document Does Not Have a Language Set
The Document Does Not Have Any Headings
The Document Does Not Have the Correct Language Set
The Document Heading Structure Does Not Start at 1
The Document Is Malformed
The Document Is Missing a Title
The Document's Heading Structure Goes Beyond Six Levels
The Font Size Is Smaller Than 9 points
The Hyperlink Text is Identical to the Hyperlink URL
The Image Is Not in Line with the Text
The Image Does Not Have An Alternative Description
Insufficient Contrast Between Foreground Text and Background
Text Should Not be Justified
Resolving PDF WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
Check Reading Order
The Document Does Not Have Any Headings
The Document Does Not Have the Correct Language Set
The Document Heading Structure Does Not Start at 1
The Document's Heading Structure Goes Beyond Six Levels
The Document Is Encrypted
The Document Is Malformed
The Document Is Missing a Title
The Document Is Scanned
The Font Size Is Smaller Than 9 points
Insufficient Contrast Between Foreground Text and Background
The Item Does Not Have An Alternative Description
The PDF is Untagged
Table Does Not Have a Header
Resolving PowerPoint (PPTX) WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
Check Reading Order
The Document Does Not Have Any Headings
The Document Does Not Have the Correct Language Set
The Document Does Not Have a Language Set
The Document Is Missing a Title
The Font Size Is Smaller Than 9 points
The Hyperlink Text is Identical to the Hyperlink URL
Insufficient Contrast Between Foreground Text and Background
The Item Does Not Have An Alternative Description
Resolving Excel (XLSX) WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
The Document Is Malformed
The Font Size Is Smaller Than 9 points
Sheet Does Not Have Text in Cell A1
The Document Is Missing a Title
Table Does Not Have a Header
The Image Does Not Have An Alternative Description
The Hyperlink Text Is Identical to the Hyperlink URL
Insufficient Contrast Between Foreground Text and Background
Resolving HTML WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
The Item Does Not Have an Alternative Description
This Element Should Be Formatted as a List
Table Does Not Have a Caption
This YouTube Video Does Not Have Human-Generated Captions
The Document's Heading Structure Is Not Properly Nested
The Document Does Not Have a Heading
The Font Size Is Smaller Than 9 Points
The Hyperlink Text Is Identical to the Hyperlink URL
Insufficient Contrast Between Foreground Text and Background
Table Does Not Have a Header
Resolving GIF WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Issues
The Document Is Malformed
This GIF Has an Increased Risk of Inducing Seizures
Accessibility Features in Panopto
Panopto offers accessibility features that allow users to easily navigate and read
the Panopto web interface. The web interface supports screen readers for all available
creator and viewer interfaces. The web interface also supports keyboard access, allowing
you to use the tab key to access all available functions. All sessions fully support
adding and displaying captions.
Editing Panopto Closed Captions
This document provides a streamlined roadmap for accessing Panopto through Brightspace and using the built-in editor to polish your video captions.
Downloading Transcripts from Panopto
This document shows how to quickly retrieve transcripts from Panopto recordings directly within Brightspace.
Canva Accessibility Tip: Fix PDF Reading Order Before You Download
Creating visually stunning course materials in Canva is easy, but ensuring those materials are accessible to students using screen readers requires one extra, vital step. This brief tutorial (approx. 4 min) explains a common pitfall: PDF Reading Order. By default, screen readers often read Canva elements in the order they were added to the page, rather than the order they appear visually. This can lead to a confusing experience where a student might hear the footer before the headline.
Accessibility Tools for Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is committed to inclusive design and accessible products and content. We are constantly working to offer more to boost every user's productivity. On this page, you'll find accessibility resources for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and tools to make your content accessible for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Accessibility tools for Word
This page lists accessibility tools for Word. Here you'll also find tools to make your Word documents accessible for everyone.
Accessibility tools for PowerPoint
This page lists accessibility tools for PowerPoint. Here you'll also find tools to make your PowerPoint presentations accessible for everyone.
Accessible Best Practices with Excel Spreadsheets
This topic gives you step-by-step instructions and best practices for making your Excel spreadsheets accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities.
Creating Accessible Microsoft Excel
This document provides a foundational outline to help UCM faculty ensure their Microsoft Excel sheets meet Title II accessibility standards, specifically aligning with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.
Accessible templates for Microsoft 365
Templates that help you make your content accessible to everyone are now available on create.microsoft.com. You can find them by searching for "accessible templates" or you can use our query: Accessible Office templates.
Alternatively, you can get to them straight from your Office application. Go to File > New and type "accessible templates" in the Search for online templates box.
Create accessible PDFs in Microsoft 365
Create & Verify PDF Accessibility (Acrobat)
You can use Acrobat to make PDFs meet the common accessibility standards, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA and PDF/UA (Universal Access, or ISO 14289). This includes adding tags, alternative text for images, and ensuring proper reading order, making the document compatible with screen readers. Acrobat also provides tools to verify accessibility and identify issues that need correction to comply with accessibility standards. To learn more about creating accessible PDF documents, see the YuJa Panorama (Brightspace 3rd Party Accessibility Tool) section above. There you will find guidance on resolving PDF accessibility issues.
UCM faculty and staff now have access to Adobe Acrobat through their UCM account. Locate the application on your device and log in using your UCM network credentials. Please note that you must use your full email address as your username to access.
Creating Accessible PDFs
This document provides a foundational outline to help UCM faculty ensure their PDFs meet Title II accessibility standards, specifically aligning with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.
Explore Google’s Accessibility Features
Google offers to make its products more accessible to people with disabilities. These features include voice control, screen readers, live captions, and magnification tools, all designed to enhance usability for individuals with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. The initiative demonstrates Google's commitment to creating inclusive digital experiences for everyone.
Gmail
Google Docs
Google Slides
Google Sheets
Google Drive
Google Meet
Creating Accessible Google Docs
This document provides a foundational outline to help UCM faculty ensure their Google
Docs meet Title II accessibility standards, specifically aligning with the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.
Creating Accessible Google Slides Presentations
This document provides a foundational outline to help UCM faculty ensure their Google Slides presentations meet Title II accessibility standards, specifically aligning with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA.
Zoom Accessible Features Overview
Making Audio and Video Accessible
