Digital Accessibility
Digital accessibility is a District-wide, institutional responsibility. It is a legal requirement and expected across all campuses, departments and roles.
The ADA Title II Ruling on Digital Accessibility
The Department of Justice’s final Title II rule under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that state and local government entities, including public community colleges, ensure equal access to programs, services, and activities. This includes digital information and services such as websites, learning management systems, digital documents, videos, mobile applications, and other online tools.
By April 2026, all web and mobile content, including course materials, must comply with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. This requirement applies broadly, including:
- Websites and web applications
- Mobile apps and social media
- PDFs and other digital documents
- Audio and video content
- Online forms and applications
- Vendor and third-party content
- Canvas and other instructional platforms
- Virtual services
- Internet tools and employee communications, including email
Professional Development and Resources
A wide range of training, webinars, and resources are available for employees' reference.
CCC Accessibility Center
- WebAIM — Creating Accessible Documents (Free through CCC Accessibility Center)
- Self-paced micro-courses
CVC@One Training
- Faculty
- All Employees (self-paced)
Instructure
CCCO Webinars
Check upcoming webinars on the CCCO event calendar.
- February 2026 | Accessibility in Online Learning Webinar
CVC@One Webinars
- April 2024 | Embedding Content into Accessible Canvas Pages
- April 2024 | How to Make Documents Accessible
- October 2025 | Designing for the Future: Leveraging AI, UDL and Flexible Course Design for Inclusive Learning
Adobe Webinars
- August 2025 | Achieving Accessibility: Streamlining PDF Compliance in Higher Education
PDF Distribution
PDF documents are used to preserve graphical elements or layouts across different devices. They are a reliable way to ensure that the document you've prepared will look the same no matter what device it is viewed on.
However, making PDFs accessible digitally can be challenging due to their structure, and often PDFs that are simple in design can easily be converted to web content.
Remember that once a PDF has been sent, downloaded, or shared, you lose all control over it. There’s no way to apply updates to a PDF that has been distributed; it will have to be resent as a new version. There’s no way to know what versions your recipients may circulate accidentally.
When To Use a PDF
PDFs shouldn't be used for on-screen reading. However, there will be times when a downloadable PDF is acceptable.
Official Documents
Official items like academic calendars and forms that need to maintain specific layouts or designs typically rely on PDF structure to preserve their content. PDFs are helpful when distributing manuals or reports with many pages so that they may be downloaded and read offline.
Printed Materials
When users need to print documents exactly as they appear, such as event flyers, brochures, or research reports , PDFs are ideal. They preserve the layout and design, ensuring the printed version looks just as intended.
Guidelines for PDF Usage
If you choose to use PDFs, follow these guidelines to make it as usable as possible and to lend a smooth transition from a digital to a paper-based experience.
Make the PDF accessible during creation
Federal law requires our web content (including PDFs) to be accessible to people with disabilities. If you distribute PDFs on a website, by email, over social media, or any other digital means, you must make them accessible.
See available training courses to touch up on your knowledge of how to make digital documents accessible.
Optimize PDF file size
Keeping your PDF documents under 1MB will reduce how long it takes to download. This can be important for those with older devices or poor Internet connections.
Provide a text supplement
This can be applied to flyer designs. When distributing a PDF flyer design, please include the information in the PDF in the body of your email. If the PDF fails to load, or has accessibility issues, recipients will still be able to gather all the important information from the accompanying text version.
Create HTML gateway pages
Gateway pages are HTML web pages that summarize the core messages found in the PDF document. The gateway page provides sufficient detail on the landing page so that users don’t have to read the PDF in a browser window to get the information they need. They can get either the full document or key takeaways in a familiar digital format with the option to download the full PDF.