Theses and Dissertations Guide: Digital Accessibility for ETDs

To satisfy OhioLINK's minimum requirements for digital accessibility in a PDF, OhioLINK has suggested we go to Accessibility Checker Options in Adobe and check the following boxes for the accessibility check.

Checking Options

Category dropdown: 

Document

Check the following:

• Accessibility permission flag is set
• Document is not image-only PDF
• Text language is specified
• Document title is showing in the title bar

Page content

• No options should be selected for this category.

Forms, Table and Lists

• No options should be selected for this category.

Alternate Text and Headings

Check the following option:

• Figures require alternate text

Accessibility Resources

These resources are designed to help students meet the OhioLINK Recommended Minimum Requirements for digital document accessibility, established for ETDs published after January 31, 2023. (Please note that these recommendations may change over time.) University of Dayton students are required to make their ETD documents accessible at least according to the OhioLINK minimum recommendations. Students are also required to submit a separate Accessibility Report document to demonstrate that applicable accessibility standards have been met. The Accessibility Report will be reviewed by Graduate Academic Affairs staff. Both the final ETD and the Accessibility Report must be uploaded to the OhioLINK ETD database prior to graduation.

For further assistance students may reach out to the Office of Learning Resources (OLR), or to one of their designated Unit Digital Accessibility Coordinators (consult with your departmental or dean’s office) for support.

Word processing resources for creating accessible documents:

Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities

Create accessible PDFs (in Microsoft Word)

Make accessible documents in Foxit PDF Editor

LaTeX Template with Accessibility Update - Zip File (provided by the School of Engineering)

LaTex Thesis Template for UD (accessible from Overleaf)

University of Dayton resources for creating accessible documents:

Accessing Foxit on UD's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Sensus Access (Software that transforms a document into an accessible format)

Accessibility Tip: The Essentials of Document Accessibility

LEARN: Accessible Documents (Center for Online Learning)

Additional resources for creating accessible documents:

Digital Accessibility Resources for the OhioLINK ETD Center

WebAIM: Microsoft Word - Creating Accessible Documents

NCDAE (National Center on Disability and Access to Education) Word Cheatsheets

WebAIM: PDF Accessibility Defining PDF Accessibility

WebAIM: Alternative Text