Accessibility training resources

This page is a brief, high level introduction to what you need to know about digital accessibility, what content needs to be addressed, how this will affect your team, and the new federal guidelines that require this change. Estimated reading time: 5-7 minutes.

The digital accessibility journey starts with empathy. Find out about different types of disabilities, the assistive technology used to support digital interactions, and the guidelines that help us make accessibility happen.

Learn more about best practices for procuring and developing accessible tools that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and how to ensure that they are in compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level A and Level AA.

This guide describes in detail the coding best-practices that are implemented in the Accessible Form Validation CodePen example used for the “Live Training: Accessible HTML Forms”.

Adobe Acrobat Pro can be used to remediate a PDF document that was created without tags. Tags are the structure that make a PDF accessible to keyboard and screen reader users. Find out how to fix a PDF that is not accessible, and discover some considerations to save you time before remediating a PDF with Acrobat Pro.

Charts, graphs, dashboards, and other data visualizations help people to interpret complex data sets. Because by nature they are visually biased, we must find additional ways to present the information so that they can still be useful for people using assistive technology. Whether you are using PowerPoint, Excel, PowerBI, Tableau or other tools, these guidelines will help make your content accessible.

Before going in-depth based on a topic or your role, explore a high-level overview about use of color, document and page structure, alternative text, and typography and content.

Text alternatives are needed for non-text media to make the media accessible. For images, this is called alternative text, or alt text for short. Alt text can be added to images just about anywhere they exist digitally. Find out how to write alt text, and add it to images in documents, Mass.gov, and HTML.

Find out how to make sure the colors you are using are accessible for individuals with low vision, blindness or colorblindness. Learn about color contrast ratios, not using color alone for meaning, and tools and techniques that can help you determine if the colors you are using are useful to everyone.

The purpose of any document or web page is to deliver information. It's important to make sure your content is clear, and that the typography you choose for your text is legible. It's also important to make sure that your text is readable both visually and by a computer, so that it is discoverable with assistive technology.