How can I help busy scientists create Accessible posters using their current PPT-Word-PDF workflow?

Report · Aug 08, 2023

Scientists giving poster presentations typically create these by first putting their text and Figures into a PowerPoint presentation, then sending that to a Word template, then converting that to PDF at the correct scale for printing.

The scientists I work with don't have access to InDesign or Illustrator, and may not have the full Acrobat available to them, either. They've managed. But now they have a requirement to produce Accessible posters, per Section 508, so now they are trying to figure out how to tag sections, interpret failure flags, and asking me to help them sort everything out.

Anyone else going through this? The "Make Accessible" wizard indicates that the Figures which were "accessible" in the PPT form have been imported as separate image "Figures" in Acrobat, each now requiring a separate caption and alt text, which is crazy-making for everyone involved....

Many thanks for any help or commiseration you all can provide.

Report · Aug 08, 2023

Hi @Lili5FDA, good question.

We teach this in our "Manage your Accessible Workflow" class.

First, the programs that create the most accessible PDFs are Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign. So there's no need to convert the PPT to DOCX. And Adobe Illustrator doesn't have a shread of accessibility in it, so avoid using it for anything other than an individual graphic — which will be imported into Word, PowerPoint, or InDesign where the accessibility will be added.
A quick course in any of the 3 programs will give the scientists the how-to of making accessible documents. It's not rocket-science, but it's not intuitive, either, so a bit of training is needed.
For guidance on how to do this, look at what HHS (US Dept. of Health and Human Services) has for its employees and contractors: https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/accessibility-checklists/index.html If you're with the FDA, you must meet the parent agency's requirements, so that means you'll live by these checklists.

Hope this helps!

Report · Aug 08, 2023

Yes, I do need to live by those checklists, but there's no way my scientists are going to have access to/learn InDesign in the weeks before a major conference. While there have been Accessibility trainings offered, the uptake on the science side is, well, low... It's my job to bridge the gap for the teams I support.

Report · Aug 08, 2023

Reread the first bullet point:

PowerPoint and Word can make accessible PDFs for posters. PowerPoint is probably the better program to use for a poster. No need to bring InDesign into the mix: it has a very long learning curve, even more so for accessibile PDFs.

...there's no way my scientists are going to have access to/learn InDesign in the weeks before a major conference. While there have been Accessibility trainings offered, the uptake on the science side is, well, low... It's my job to bridge the gap for the teams I support.
By @Lili5FDA

So does this mean that meeting the requirements of a US Federal law falls solely on your shoulders?

Your managers have let you down and given you an unworkable workload and deadline. All federal agencies, from the directors down to the grunts, must follow federal accessibility laws: it's NOT one person's job to do this. I'm sure they knew about this conference a long time ago, especially when they solicited research papers and posters from the science community. Accessibility should have been planned for and deployed from the beginning stages.

For now, I'd hire a remediation contractor if you don't think you have the time, skills, or tools to fix the scientific posters. I'll recommend some in a private message to you: they're on GSA, are US based, and are the most honest and reputable companies in the business.

But for the future, talk with your manager about the workload is not workable. And recommend they sign up for our firm's Management webinar which details this exact problem. Check our website calendar for upcoming sessions: www.PubCom.com/calendar