TUTORIAL FOR CREATING ACCESSIBLE
POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS
General Overview
What are Accessible PowerPoint Presentations?
Accessible PowerPoint presentations are presentations available to all
users. People with some types of disabilities, such as blindness, low
vision, and learning disabilities (L.D.), have problems accessing the
information in PowerPoint. This compromises their opportunities for
effective learning.
Assistive technologies (i.e. specialized software) such as screen readers (e.g. JAWS, Window-Eyes) provide access to computer information for the blind, people with low vision and people with learning disabilities. Screen readers for example, read the text information on the screen aloud. Accessible PowerPoint presentations are set up in a way that allows these assistive technologies to access and interpret the information contained in the presentation.
Why should I care about accessibility of educational
web material?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the UW system internal policy
of web accessibility mandate the creation of web-mediated material to
be accessible for all learners. As electronically-mediated instruction
transforms higher education, the need to ensure electronic accessibility
for all learners becomes an ever-increasing practical, legal and moral
obligation.
Common accessibility problems in PowerPoint
presentations:
1. Graphics, figures, logos, and flow-charts are not accessible for
many people using assistive technologies.
2.The text is not available for screen reader users if the information
is not structured within auto layouts provided by PowerPoint program.
3. Poor contrast between background and text makes the information difficult
to read on the screen.
4. Multimedia (i.e. streaming video) could present a real challenge
for deaf people and for people with visual impairments.
Below are some effective strategies for making accessible PowerPoint
Presentations, whether you are starting a PowerPoint document from scratch
or you just want to make an existing one accessible.
Please keep in mind that there is no a single solution to make PowerPoint
presentations accessible, so explore the different options that we present
to better fit your needs.
How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations
from Scratch
(All you need to know about accessibility of PowerPoint presentations)
How to Make PowerPoint Presentations Accessible
to Publish on the Web
(Different options presented according to the individual characteristics
of your PowerPoint presentation)