How IDP Transforms Document Accessibility Remediation

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In this opinion piece, Ernie Crawford President/CEO and Founder of software solutions and services provider Crawford Technologies, explains how IDP is modernizing document accessibility remediation by automating key processes, significantly reducing the time and effort to make documents compliant.

Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is transforming document accessibility remediation by making it easier, faster and more accurate to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, European Accessibility Act (EAA), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and other non-discrimination legislation. Traditional remediation methods rely on slow, labor-intensive manual processes and accessibility tagging that can take weeks or months, leading to errors or only making portions of documents accessible.s

To make documents accessible, they must be structured to meet the WCAG standard, which specifies how websites and PDF files need to be structured and tagged. There are different levels of the standard and other versions, as the standard is continually being enhanced by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The effort it takes to convert a regular PDF into a compliant PDF can be significant and time-consuming. The document’s graphical components need to have alternate text added, the heading structure must be organized properly, all tables and lists must be tagged and the reading order must be set. Hours can be spent making a PDF into a compliant, accessible PDF.

IDP automates the remediation process with AI-powered content analysis. It instantly identifies and corrects accessibility issues like missing tags, improper heading structure and images without alternate text. This is especially beneficial with high volumes of transactional documents like account statements, explanations of benefits (EOB), annual notices of change (ANOC) and other complex communications, resulting in far less manual work, faster turnaround times and improved document accessibility for everyone.

Automated Tagging, Structure and Content Prediction

IDP modernizes document accessibility remediation by automating key processes, significantly reducing the time and effort to make documents compliant. IDP’s advanced AI and machine learning algorithms handle both essential tagging and structure, as well as intelligent content prediction, all within a single, streamlined workflow:

• Document structure – IDP analyzes the document’s content and formatting to understand its overall structure, including sections, paragraphs and other elements.
• Hierarchical headings (H1-H6) – IDP accurately predicts and applies the appropriate heading levels to ensure proper document organization and navigation.
• Logical reading sequences – IDP determines and predicts reading order, which leads to screen readers presenting content in the intended sequence, even in complex layouts.
• Key elements for accessibility tagging – IDP identifies and tags elements that require remediation, such as images needing alt text, tables needing proper structure and form fields needing labels.
• Alternative text (alt text) – IDP identifies images missing alt text and marks them clearly for correction.
• Table structures – IDP ensures tables are properly tagged so screen readers can interpret the data accurately.

Using IDP for document accessibility remediation dramatically reduces manual efforts, saving significant time and resources while ensuring more accurate and accessible documents consistently.

Image: 1) The Adobe PDF Explanation of Benefits statement is not tagged; 2) the EOB statement is auto-tagged for accessibility by an IDP solution and 3) the Crawford Technologies report validating the EOB is correctly tagged for accessibility. Image credit: Crawford Technologies

Intelligent Processing

Documents often contain structured and unstructured data. This poses a significant challenge for document accessibility remediation. IDP addresses this complexity with sophisticated data processing capabilities, ensuring that all content, regardless of format, is accessible. IDP goes beyond simply identifying different data types and elements and tagging them; it understands the context of that data and applies the appropriate logic.

For example, consider a document containing text, images and tables.

• IDP can process the document and its text and ensure it is tagged correctly. This may include adding semantic meaning (e.g., identifying headings and paragraph tags) and ensuring proper language tagging.
• IDP can analyze the structure of tables, even if they are visually complex, and tag them into a logical structure that screen readers can interpret accurately. This includes identifying header rows, data cells and relationships between them. IDP can also ensure that table data is associated with the correct headers, making the correct information accessible.

This comprehensive approach to intelligent processing ensures that diverse content types within a document are fully accessible and not just parts of a document.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

A key advantage of IDP is its ability to learn and improve over time. Traditional remediation relies on predefined rules and human expertise, which can be inconsistent and slow to evolve.

Accessibility platforms with IDP are powered by AI and machine learning, meaning they continuously refine their capabilities based on real-world data. The more documents they process, the more accurate and efficient they become. This continuous improvement makes IDP a future-proof solution for document accessibility remediation.

Key Takeaways

Ensuring document accessibility is a right mandated by the European Accessibility Act (EAA), Section 508, ADA Title II and III and other accessibility regulations. Traditional manual remediation methods are slow, costly and inefficient. Accessibility platforms with IDP can remediate documents, especially high volumes of transactional documents, in minutes to hours rather than days, weeks or months. They ensure faster compliance with regulations while reducing costs and improving accuracy.

For enterprises and government agencies looking to achieve compliance at scale while improving efficiency and accessibility, IDP is the best way forward.

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