Category: Resources

Looking for a quick reference to digital accessibility resources?

The new UW Resources for Digital Accessibility Quick Card brings together guidance, tools, training opportunities, events, and policy information in one easy-to-use guide. The card helps faculty, staff, and students quickly find resources for learning digital accessibility basics, creating accessible course materials, accessing tools and guidance, participating in training and events, and understanding UW’s digital accessibility requirements.

Explore this reference card and the Microsoft Office Quick Cards on the Accessible Technology website. Printable PDF versions make it easy to post in common areas and share with colleagues, helping connect the UW community with resources for creating accessible and inclusive digital experiences.

If you’ve been following our blog, you’re likely already familiar with the key steps organizations must take to prepare for the upcoming ADA Title II deadline for digital accessibility on April 24, 2026.

You’ve learned what compliance looks like, why it matters, and how to begin building more accessible and inclusive digital experiences.

But what if you want to take it a step further?

If you’d like to help colleagues, collaborators, and friends find practical resources and quick tips for creating accessible documents, presentations, spreadsheets, emails, and other digital content, we have links for you to bookmark and share.

Digital Accessibility Quick Cards for Microsoft

These straightforward, task‑based guides offer quick tips for creating accessible content in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Excel.

Grackle for Google Docs

For teams using Google Workspace, Grackle provides accessibility checking and guided remediation directly within Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Find more information on the Grackle at UW web page.

Accessible Technology Website

UW’s Accessible Technology site is a central hub for digital accessibility best practices, tools, and guidance for websites, documents, courses, social media, and more. Their Digital Accessibility Checklist is a good place to start.

Teaching@UW: Making Courses Accessible

This Teaching@UW resource outlines high‑impact, practical steps instructors can take to improve the accessibility of common course materials. It emphasizes actions like prioritizing web‑based content, using Canvas, Panopto, and Zoom, leveraging built‑in accessibility checkers, and knowing when to reach out for UW support.

In addition, encourage others to explore the Digital Accessibility training page for on-demand and structured learning options, and check the events calendar for upcoming community events and live sessions. These opportunities make it easier to build skills, ask questions, and stay current as the 2026 deadline approaches and our more accessible future begins.

Sharing these resources helps advance digital accessibility knowledge across UW campuses and supports the University’s new Digital Accessibility Policy (APS 9.0), which was recently announced via this blog and UW Insider. Together, these tools and learning opportunities help us build inclusive, accessible digital spaces as accessibility expectations become part of everyday work.

Accessible documents, spreadsheets, slides, and emails are essential to creating inclusive digital spaces at the University of Washington. To make this easier, UW’s Accessible Technology team has developed Digital Accessibility Quick Cards for Microsoft Office applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Each card—available both as a web page and an accessible, printable PDF—offers concise, practical guidance for designing content that works well for everyone, including people who use assistive technologies. The cards highlight key accessibility practices such as:

• Using heading styles to structure content
• Writing meaningful link text
• Adding descriptive alternative text for images
• Ensuring readable color contrast

They also remind users to run each program’s built-in Accessibility Checker to identify and fix potential issues before sharing files.

Faculty, staff, and students can use these Quick Cards as at-a-glance references when creating Microsoft emails, documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Whether you’re drafting a syllabus in Word, preparing a slide deck for class, or sending departmental updates through Outlook, these tips help ensure your materials are clear, organized, and accessible to all members of the UW community.

By incorporating these simple accessibility practices into everyday work, we advance UW’s commitment to equity and inclusion—helping ensure our digital environments are welcoming and usable for everyone.

Explore the Digital Accessibility Quick Cards on UW’s Accessible Technology website and share them with colleagues and students to help the University prepare for April 2026 and a more inclusive future.