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Faculty Toolkit : AODA
Welcome to AODA Resources - Module 1 of 6
This module will familiarize you with creating an accessible learning environment.
Top Tips
- Don't make assumptions about a person's disabilities
Many persons with disabilities feel frustrated when people make assumptions about what they can and cannot do. - Be patient and understanding
Students may take more time or have difficulty communicating, be patient and understanding (but not patronizing) - Speak clearly
Speak as you would with other students, clearly, facing your audience. Don’t speak facing away. - Closed caption audio/visual materials
Make sure audio/visual materials you use are available with accurate closed captioning. - Make electronic resources available for students
Slides, lecture notes, and forms should be available to all students in advance, in accessible formats easily read by assistive technologies. - Check for legibility and clarity
Use Sans Serif fonts and contrasting colours in your materials. Checklists - Opens in a new window can help. - Use alt-text
Use alt-text on images that are meaningful and convey value. Describe the image and add context if necessary. - Make sure resources are compatible with assistive technologies
Students may need to use assistive technologies like screen readers, use the resources on this page to make sure your materials can be used with them. - Use built-in accessibility checkers
MS Word and PowerPoint, and Adobe PDFs have built-in features to check your documents for accessibility. - Ask for help if you don't know
Consult your local counselling office for additional resources and support.
Creating Accessible Learning Resources
PowerPoint Resources
PowerPoint is the most common tool used for lectures, below are some useful resources for creating accessible presentations.
Word and PDF Resources
Below are resources for creating accessible Word and PDF documents.
Resources About Images
Alt-text are text that will be conveyed when using visual aids like a screen reader, descriptions that appear when a mouse is hovered over an image, and text that is displayed when an image link is broken.
Resources for Closed Captioning Videos
A Guide to Quality Captioning: Described and Captioned Media Program Captioning Key (via the DCMP's website- Opens in a new window):
Below are a series of videos on Close Captioning YouTube videos by Queen's University.
General Guides
Teaching tips from the Accessible Campus website - Opens in a new window and elsewhere for creating an accessible learning environment in the classroom.
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) mandates that Ontario institutions must conform to certain accessibility guidelines and must hit accessibility goals. Below is a link to training modules provided by the Government of Ontario.