PDF accessibility services that screen readers can actually follow PDFs and forms remediated to Section 508, ADA, WCAG 2.1 and PDF/UA

Section 508 requires US federal agencies and their suppliers to publish accessible documents, and the ADA reaches many other organizations. WCAG 2.1 and PDF/UA set what an accessible PDF looks like.

We remediate to the standard you must meet, including the DDA in the UK and Australia, and we test every file against it.

An untagged PDF reads to a screen reader as one long run of text, often in the wrong order. Agents tag the headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and links, and a person checks the reading order follows the author's intent.

Alt text should describe what an image is for, not only what it shows. A chart in an annual report needs its finding written out, so a person writes every description, and agents never guess one.

Tables with merged cells and two rows of headers are where most remediation goes wrong. A person sets the header cells and their scope by hand. For forms, we label every field, set a logical tab order and make the form fillable with a keyboard.

The smaller fixes matter too, because each one is a test the file has to pass.

• Title, language and metadata set in the document properties
• Bookmarks for every heading in long documents
• Color contrast checked against WCAG 2.1
• Links and cross references made readable

Every file is checked with PAC and Adobe Acrobat's checker, then read with a screen reader such as NVDA or JAWS. You get a report for each file that shows what was fixed and what it was tested with.

PDF remediation fixes a document so people who use screen readers and other assistive technology can read it. It adds tags, alt text and a correct reading order, and it fixes contrast and forms. Without it, a PDF can fail Section 508, the ADA and WCAG 2.1.

It depends on the length and what's inside the document. A text-only report moves faster than one full of tables, charts and forms. We give you a plan for each batch after the audit of your sample.

Automated tools catch missing tags, but they can't tell whether a reading order makes sense or whether alt text says anything useful. Damco uses agents for the tagging volume and a person for every judgment call, then tests each file with a screen reader.

Adobe Acrobat's accessibility checker and the PAC checker flag the common problems. They miss many others, such as a wrong reading order, so the only way to be sure is to read the file with a screen reader.

We price remediation per page or per document. A text-only page costs less than a page with a complex table or a form, so we quote after auditing a sample of your documents.