THE AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO ACCESSIBILITY

By Susana Christie, Senior Developmental Editor, and Rachel Mann, Senior Instructional Designer

What Exactly Is Accessibility?

First signed into law in 1990, and amended in 2008, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ensures that people with disabilities have access to the same areas, services, and programs as those who do not have disabilities.

For textbooks, this means all content must be screen-reader-compatible, so that any individual who requires this assistive technology will have the full reading experience, including understanding how any visual elements (images, figures, charts, table, graphs, textboxes, etc.) support and exemplify the written text.

Any student who requires assistive technology will be reading a digital product, rather than a print book.

In order to ensure that your Cognella textbook meets accessibility guidelines, our editorial and production teams will work closely with you. Below are lists of what you will need to do, what Cognella will do, and what your institution’s accessibility office will do.

What Are the Author’s Responsibilities?

To ensure that your book is compliant with accessibility guidelines, there are a few things we will ask you to do. To learn more about each of these, just select the link provided, or select the “next” button to continue.

  1. Heading Levels: Clearly indicate main headings and subheadings using correct heading levels in the correct order.
  2. Images and Figures: Correctly distinguish and label all images and figures.
  3. Tables and Textboxes: Ensure that tables are accessible and clearly distinguished from textboxes.
  4. Hyperlinks: Format hyperlinks in digital materials (Active Learning companions and interactive ebooks) so that their titles and purposes can be correctly read/interpreted by assistive technology. For standard textbooks, please include the full URL in parentheses following the descriptive text.
  5. Lists: Use numbered and bulleted lists appropriately.
  6. Emphasis: In the rare instances when wording is not enough, use only bold and italics to signify emphasis.

What Are Cognella’s Responsibilities?

When your manuscript content is received, Cognella will check to ensure that the above guidelines were followed. In addition, Cognella will:

  1. Use accessible fonts and font sizes in the final interior design.
  2. Use limited and high-contrast color profiles that are ADA compliant.
  3. Develop alt text for images so screen readers describe them clearly and correctly.
  4. Work with university accessibility offices to provide any necessary files.

What Are the University Accessibility Office’s Responsibilities?

If any additional alterations are needed to make a Cognella textbook accessible for a student, the university accessibility office will help. A student must purchase the book and then contact the office directly to access their services.

In such cases, the office will reach out to Cognella directly to ask for alternate formats or more information as needed.

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