Limitations

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Accessibility Checker Limitations: Still Needs That Human Touch!

The Accessibility Checker is a good starting point, but it is important to recognize that there are limits to what any automated tool can detect. You will need to check your presentation to ensure the proper access strategies are applied to your content. You can not rely on the Accessibility Checker as the sole means of addressing accessibility in your presentation. The following are Accessibility Checker limitations to consider. 

 

 

 

Although the Accessibility Checker can comb through a Word Doc and generate a thorough list of all accessibility errors, the Accessibility Checker cannot identify meaningful alternate text based on the slide's context. That is where you come in. For example, if the alternate text of a picture in MS Doc is "image1.jpg", the Accessibility Checker will mark that picture accessible even though it is not descriptive enough.

It is still effective practice to individually check images for appropriate alternate text based on the context of the slide. 

 

Screen readers for blind and visually-impaired students will read content in a particular order, often called the logical reading order of the document. All document content that is considered inline will be read in a sequential manner. Content that is not inline, such as text boxes or floating content, will not be read in a logical and sequential manner. Manually verifying the order in which the document content is organized ensures the information makes sense when read aloud.

 

An important aspect of color on the Web and in documents for both low vision and colorblind users is ensuring sufficient contrast between foreground (text or graphics) and the background. Unfortunately, the Accessibility Checker cannot automatically determine which content has sufficient contrast. We'll discuss this more in detail in the micro-course.