PDF accessibility remediation

Documents everyone can read.

I rebuild PDFs so they work for people using screen readers, keyboards and magnifiers, while they still look exactly the way they were designed. Every file is checked in PAC 2026, read through in NVDA and delivered with a conformance report you can keep on file.

A remediated PDF looks the same. It reads completely differently.

The work lives in a layer most people never see: the structure a screen reader follows. That is why this page shows checker results and recordings rather than pretty thumbnails.

Structure

A tag tree that matches the real reading order, with headings that form an actual outline instead of bigger, bolder text.

Meaning

Alt text that says what an image is for, table headers tied to their cells, labeled form fields and language tags so Spanish is spoken as Spanish.

Proof

An automated pass in PAC 2026, a manual read in NVDA, and a per-file report showing what was checked and what was fixed.

Selected work

Case studies

Purdue Extension, Health and Human Sciences

Extension publications in English and Spanish

Consumer health publications from the HHS-790-W and HHS-841-W series, including Preventing Prescription Drug Overdoses. Built in InDesign, published as PDFs, and read by the public on phones, laptops and assistive technology.

What it needed

Table header cells InDesign exports without scope, so a screen reader could not say which column a value belonged to
Author and sidebar content read out of order
Decorative rules and shapes announced as content
Spanish editions tagged so NVDA switches to Spanish pronunciation

Pages

The finished file, read aloud in NVDA

This is what a screen reader user hears in Preventing Prescription Drug Overdoses. Headings are announced with their level, so the page can be scanned like an outline. In the table, NVDA gives its size, then names the column header before every value, so each drug stays tied to what it treats.

NVDA reading HHS-790-W in Adobe Acrobat Reader, 80 seconds, with captions. The Speech Viewer on the left shows the same words as text.

Transcript

Use as Directed:

Heading level 1: Preventing Prescription Drug Overdoses

Heading level 2: Introduction

Every year, millions of people use prescription medications

safely to treat illnesses or to prevent disease complications.

Most people use prescription medications as directed.

Heading level 2: Common Prescription Drugs Involved in Overdoses

Table with 4 rows and 3 columns. Row 1, column 1: Type

Column 2: Used to Treat

Column 3: Examples of Prescriptions (generic name/trade name)

Row 2, Type, column 1: Opioids

Used to Treat, column 2: Pain

Examples of Prescriptions (generic name/trade name)

Column 3: Oxycodone (Roxicodone, Oxycontin)

Methadone (Dolophine, Amidone)

Morphine (Avinza)

Row 4, Type, column 1: Stimulants

Used to Treat, column 2: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Narcolepsy

Examples of Prescriptions (generic name/trade name)

Column 3: Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine (Adderall)

Methylphenidate (Ritalin)

En español

The Spanish editions

Both publications in the series also come in Spanish: HHS-790-W-S and HHS-841-W-S, Salud mental. Each Spanish file gets the same full build as its English twin, plus one more layer: language tagging, so a screen reader speaks Spanish as Spanish instead of reading it with English pronunciation.

Document language set to Spanish and written into the file
Document title in Spanish
Validated in PAC 2026 to the same standard as the English edition
Read through in NVDA running in Spanish

If your audience reads in more than one language, your documents can too.

Same publication, two languages, both passing

Purdue Extension, Health and Human Sciences

Rebuilt from the source: Creating a Safe Sleeping Environment for Your Baby

HHS-819-W was a 2020 publication that needed new content and an accessible version. Patching the old PDF would have meant redoing the work at the next revision, so I fixed it at the source. I redesigned the publication template the College of Agriculture now uses, with accessibility built into its styles, then rebuilt this publication on it. Every future export from that template starts accessible.

What it needed

Typed bullets turned into real lists, so a screen reader announces each list and how many items it holds
Inconsistent paragraph and character styles cleaned up and mapped to proper headings
Fonts the old file never fully embedded, now embedded
The window set to show the document title instead of a filename
New content, references and photography added without losing any of it

Checked, fixed, checked again

Pages

If you publish PDFs, this is for you.

Anything people download, someone using a screen reader downloads too. I work with organizations of every size, and I am glad to look at document types I have not seen before.

Colleges and universities

Catalogs, forms, Extension and research publications

Cities, counties and schools

Agendas, minutes, permits, budgets, notices

Hospitals and clinics

Patient guides, intake forms, notices

Nonprofits and associations

Annual reports, programs, member resources

Businesses and manufacturers

Manuals, spec sheets, catalogs, proposals

Authors and publishers

Books, reports and guides headed for digital release

How it works

Look

Send one file or a list. I check what each needs before anyone commits to anything.

Quote

A per-document price by page count and complexity, in writing.

Remediate

Tags, reading order, alt text, tables, forms and metadata, validated in PAC and NVDA.

Document

Each file comes back with a conformance report for your records.

Send me one PDF. I will tell you what it needs.

Personal reply within one or two business days. No commitment.