Accessibility And You

So, you've come to me on this, the day of my daughter's publishing of an accessibility guide [Last updated 13th of January, 2026], to ask me to teach you how to make accessible documents? Well, you're in luck, because that's what we at the CTL love to do!

Let's Start With The Why

Accessibility is a universal need

So, why accessibility? And why is the CTL talking accessibility when we already have DSS? And how many of these questions is Tyr going to ask himself before answering some of them? Those are great questions, and, in response, let me ask you a question.

When was the last time you had to stop and think about how you were going to walk through a door?

Maybe you had to do so just a few minutes ago. Maybe it was last week. Maybe, just maybe, it's never occurred to you in your entire life that there's even something to think about. You just walk through, right?

Imagine though, if you will, that every door was totally different. Some were very short, others absurdly tall. Some are built at 45 degree angles, or the bottom of the door is at waist-height and there are no steps. Every door becomes a new issue, some of them impossible ones to solve, and no one would blame you if you just wanted to be done with doors entirely. There is another solution though. You could standardize doors in such a way that virtually anyone could get through them without issue, even people with door-related issues you have never considered.

This idea, known as Universal Design (UD), has been a goal for most people designing a product, whether they knew it or not. You want as many people as possible to be able to use your product without the need for a reference manual, if for no other reason than it's 569 BCE and reference manuals haven't been invented yet. The problems that UD attempts to solve are neverending, but the answers UD offers are often basically invisible. They're the sort of answers you may never have to think about, like how you're going to walk through a door. You are already the beneficiary of accessibility practices every single day, whether it's doors, subtitles, or a hundred other examples, accessibility is a universal need, and so we have Universal Design.

That, my friends, is why accessibility is so important on a human level. But let's talk about a reason why it's about to be even more-important to you, and very soon.

The law has changed

If helping yourself and your fellow human beings isn't enough of a reason to make accessibility important to you, then consider the following. On April 24, 2026, all web content - every webpage, every online assignment, everything in every Canvas shell a student will ever interact with - from all public institutions must comply with . Yes. That means you too.

What was previously a very strong suggestion by the Department of Education (DoE) has become a rather no-nonsense law from the Department of Justice (DoJ). I don't know about you, but that's the sort of thing that feels important when I'm considering whether I should make my course content more-accessibile or not. I'm not going to belabor this point, mostly because that's all there is to it, but also because it's not a very fun or funny point. If you really want to read more there's .

Now, Here's The How

You're probably asking yourself a very important question right now. That question sounds something like "Tyr, classes start tomorrow. When, exactly, am I supposed to have the time to fix all of inaccessible documents? How do I even know what documents are inaccessible? Why didn't you tell me aboue this sooner if you learned about it almost two years ago? Did you see that standards page? It's way too much! I didn't even understand half of it!" And that's a very good question, but before I answer that...

I want you to take a deep breath. It's all much easier than it sounds. It will be okay.

Step 1: Get yourself to Panorama

Panorama is a wonderful little accessibility tool that the entire MUS procured a little over a year ago now. It's incredibly simple to use, and is already set up inside all of your Canvas course shells automatically. You don't have to do anything except upload your documents, make your webpages, and generally build your class as you always would, then you open Panorama and it does most of the rest.

I told you this was going to be easier than it sounds.

I would like to tell you right now that I have written a comprehensive guide on Panorama, and that I recorded a workshop about it, and that you can reference them both at the following link. Unfortunately, the recording never happened, the guide isn't where I remember saving it, and I'm up against a deadline. So, for today, check out until I redo ours. The only thing I want to quickly add to the UMW guide is to not aim for 100%. Perfection in accessibility is often either impossible, or more of a burden than is reasonable. Do what you can, and use Panorama to your advantage, but remember that every step towards more accessibility makes us better than we were yesterday, and better is the goal here.

Step 2: Make new documents accessible from the get-go

Remediation is all well and good, but it's even better if you simply build your documents to be accessible fro mthe ground up. Then you never need to interact with Panorama, never need to worry if it missed something or whether its automatix fixes are exactly the ones you would've made. And, once again, that sounds like a lot. Those WCAG guidelines are no joke. Luckily, they also aren't as big and bad as they seem. Most of them boil down to a few straightforward principles that the programs you're already using have built-in. You just need to know where to click.

For example, here's a . It goes over not only how to make your document accessible, but the simple ways Microsoft has already designed Word to help you do that. Tyr made it better by adding more in-depth explanations, and some humor. Humor makes everything more accessible (this statement is not endorsed by WCAG). This resource originally stolen from , which has many other great resources for you to peruse.

PowerPoints, pdfs, and other types of documents all have their own special rules as well, but the principles behind the rules are consistent. You want to use the pre-set styles to differentiate your headings from your normal text. Color contrast between background and text are important. Images need alt text. Tyr should be given more licorice. These are principles which hold true for every document type, every web page, and so most systems have them built in. This page doesn't, but I'm working on that. Much like the Panorama workshop, they've been misplaced (probably in the same spot too).

For now, if you need help with a specific document type, and Panorama isn't doing it for you, call Tyr at (406)247-5723. He'll get you what you need.

RSI At MSUB

Start by looking at to understand what RSI is and gather more info about it. 

Add in a dash of to learn how to meet RSI requirements in different areas of teaching.

Finish up by checking out MSUB's RSI policy, where you can see that what's required is just as simple as the links above made it out to be.