Why PDF Accessibility is Mandated for Universities & Government
Under US Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public universities, federal contractors, and financial institutions face mandatory requirements to ensure all downloadable PDF documents can be navigated by blind and visually impaired individuals using screen readers like NVDA and JAWS.
The Scanned PDF Trap: Uploading a paper scan without optical character recognition (OCR) renders the entire file invisible to screen readers, treating pages as giant blank images.
Tagged PDF Architecture: Similar to HTML headings, a tagged PDF establishes explicit hierarchy (<H1>, <P>, <Table>) so users can skim chapters without hearing the entire document sequentially.