Accessibility of Digital Documents: Reading, sometimes, is a right reserved for a few

Imagine if, all of a sudden, the paper ceased to exist. Not paper towels or food wrappers, but printed paper — the revolutionary invention that made reading widely accessible and marked the first step toward globalization. What if that ink-stained paper with all its printed concepts suddenly vanished? How would the world look? How would your life change? While we entertain the idea that Gutenberg might be rolling in his grave at this thought, I ask these questions because we all know that without printed paper, life would be much harder. No more colorful billboards, no notebooks for jotting down ideas during conferences, no crumpled sheets to scribble on. Suddenly, tickets would be a distant memory, and that fridge note reminding you to buy milk would disappear. Books would stop circulating, and we would feel like something crucial was missing — something that had texture and substance. We would feel different.

Now, hold on to that sense of loss and confusion as you read further, because I want to talk about something different but remarkably similar: documents that exist but are invisible to many people. I’m referring, of course, to inaccessible digital documents — a major focus of research and development at AccessiWay. We believe that access to documents, contracts, books, and more is a right for everyone and that digital technology should open doors for as many people as possible.

This point of view isn’t just championed by AccessiWay; it’s also supported by authoritative treaties, such as the Marrakesh Treaty, and is part of European regulations. So, why are accessible documents so important? What does it mean to encounter an inaccessible document?

Everyday Life

Accessible digital documents represent a revolution, particularly for people with visual disabilities, but also for those with motor disabilities who find it easier to interact with documents through technology. For a blind person, a printed document, whether it’s the most important document in their life or simply a bill, requires artificial intelligence-powered apps to provide information. However, these apps still can’t guarantee full access to the document or allow full interaction with it, such as understanding where to sign. Digital documents like PDFs, on the other hand, allow complete reading of the document, understanding its structure, selecting specific parts to read, and interacting with it. This is a significant shift for people with disabilities, who can now manage, revisit, and organize documents according to their needs.

What might seem ordinary to those without disabilities becomes a form of self-empowerment and autonomy for those with disabilities. The most significant impact can be seen in three crucial areas of life:

• Education: Not long ago, the only thing I, a person with visual impairments, could do to read a university textbook was scan the printed book, run it through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software, and convert it into an accessible Word document. This process had many issues: scanning a 300-400 page book took hours, and the OCR errors required even more time to fix. Digital books are a game-changer, but if they are not accessible, it adds p students with disabilities. An inaccessible book cannot be navigated easily by screen readers, and the absence of headers makes exploring by chapters or topics almost impossible. The same goes for searching within the text. Accessible books are crucial for achieving academic and career goals, and fostering critical thinking and self-empowerment.

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• Work: The workplace is filled with documents — whether it’s a medical record for healthcare professionals or marketing materials for corporate events. Not being able to read these documents independently presents a major barrier, not only to completing a task but also to career advancement without discrimination. For instance, payroll slips are often in inaccessible formats, meaning employees with disabilities can’t access important personal information. True workplace inclusion includes access to such documents.

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• Information: People with disabilities are, first and foremost, citizens. Access to information is essential for participation in society, as emphasized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Being able to read a newspaper in an accessible digital format is key to being engaged in society and aware of one’s rights. There are many more examples, including contracts, consumer rights to access subscription terms, and more. These basic rights are still not guaranteed, despite being essential for millions of people with disabilities.

What Can Be Done?

The solution isn’t simple, but the tools and techniques for creating accessible documents exist. The first step is awareness and training — creating accessible documents by design, and integrating quality into processes. Automated solutions for handling large volumes of documents are also available. The main challenge is moving the discussion from just recognizing the right to accessible documents to taking action: training staff and working with experts who understand the issue and can implement practical solutions.