Important Accessibility Terms

Accessible: In this toolkit, “accessible” means that people with disabilities can perceive, operate, understand, and use digital platforms and content with substantially equivalent access to information and functionality as people without disabilities. It also means that digital platforms and content provide people with disabilities equitable access to information and services, consistent with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable accessibility standards such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Alt Text: descriptive text that conveys the meaning of an image in digital content. It is designed to make visual content accessible to people with vision disabilities. While there are other benefits of alt text for all users, this video focuses on people who use screen readers.”POUR Principles: POUR is a foundational framework for web accessibility. It is an easy way to remember the four basic principles a website needs to be accessible to everyone — including people with disabilities. See the TDL OJS Accessibility Toolkit for more detail.

Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR): Per the Section 508 website, “A document that explains the extent to which a product conforms to accessibility standards such as WCAG or Section 508 Technical Standards. A common way an ACR is completed is by using the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) template created by the IT Industry Council (ITI), but other methods are used across government.”

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): WCAG are technical accessibility standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through its Web Accessibility Initiative. The new Title II rule of the ADA requires conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Tagged PDF: A PDF that includes a structured tag tree representing headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, and other content. Tags are required for screen readers to interpret the reading order and structure of a PDF.