Articles by the Team

EquityWorks Accessibility Alliance does not provide legal advice or enforcement.

All information stated below is intended as general information only.

Welcome Letter

Welcome to EquityWorks Accessibility Alliance or EWAA.

I founded EquityWorks Accessibility Alliance with a simple belief at its core: accessibility should be woven into the way organizations think, plan, and serve their communities — not treated as an afterthought. After more than 25 years working alongside states, cities, counties, colleges and universities, museums, libraries, corrections, and community‑based organizations, I’ve seen firsthand how meaningful change happens when people come together with clarity, purpose, and a shared commitment to equity.

EWAA was built from the ground up to support that kind of change.

My 12 years serving as Assistant Director of the Northwest ADA Center at the University of Washington’s Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation (CCER), along with founding the Accessible Design and Innovative Inclusion (ADII) program, shaped not only my leadership but also deepened my commitment to advancing accessibility in meaningful and lasting ways. Those experiences reinforced what I believe at my core: accessibility is most powerful when it is intentional, collaborative, and grounded in lived experience.

When the CCER program closed in May 2026, I did not see an ending—I saw an opportunity to continue important work. The need for accessibility expertise, trusted partnerships, and practical guidance remains as strong as ever. Rather than allow that momentum to fade, I chose to carry it forward by creating a space where this work could grow, evolve, and continue serving organizations committed to building more inclusive environments.

Just as important was ensuring continuity for the partnerships we had built over the years and honoring the commitments we made to clients and communities that rely on us. With the support of my colleagues, partners, and the deditated professionals who now make up the EWAA team, we proudly launched EWAA on May 5, 2026.

What makes EWAA special is not just our services — it’s the people behind them.

I am honored to work alongside talented colleagues and trusted partners who share a deep commitment to accessibility, equity, and belonging. Together, we bring decades of experience in ADA compliance, digital accessibility, universal design, program evaluation, and community engagement. We believe in meeting organizations where they are, building their capacity for inclusion, and developing practical solutions that expand access for all.

Whether you’re beginning your accessibility journey or strengthening long‑standing efforts, we’re here to support you with clarity, partnership, and respect. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our work. I’m grateful you’re here, and I look forward to the possibility of working together to create environments, programs, and experiences that are truly accessible to everyone.

Warm regards,

Eva L. Deleon

Founder & CEO

EquityWorks Accessibility Alliance, LLC

A starting point for digital accessibility

Article date: June 18, 2026.

"It has taken all of us to build the web we have, and now it is up to all of us to build the web we want - for everyone." - Tim Berners-Lee

Digital accessibility means accessibility in cyber space. That covers websites and webpages, mobile apps, social media (like Facebook and YouTube), and emails. It includes documents that we attach to emails, like Microsoft Word documents and Portable Document Formats (PDFs). If the content lives "in a computer," "on the web," or "in the cloud," it's a digital space or product and it needs to be accessible.

What is digital accessibility and why is it important?
There are different ways to describe digital accessibility and to explain why it matters. We collected a variety of thoughts from people and organizations working in this field:

"Digital access is described as the ability for users, including those with disabilities, to easily navigate and understand content on websites, mobile applications, and other electronic-based information." - ADA National Network
"Accessible means that disabled and nondisabled people acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services in a manner that is equally effective, equally integrated, and with substantially equivalent ease of use." - Sarah Horton
"Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web and contribute to the Web." - WC3 Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
"Inaccessible web content means that people with disabilities are denied equal access to information." - U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
"The ways that websites are designed and set up can create unnecessary barriers that make it difficult to impossible for people with disabilities to use websites, just as physical barriers like steps can prevent some people with disabilities from entering a building." - U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
"People who use websites and web applications, digital documents, software, online videos, kiosks, and other digital resources have a growing variety of characteristics. As people who are responsible for digital resources, we can not assume that all our users are the same or are accessing or content using the same tools and methods." - University of Washington Accessible Technology
Most internet home pages have accessibility barriers, spawning much litigation...Most cases settle because businesses with inaccessible websites have few defenses." - American Bar Association
"nearly three quarters of disabled online consumers (69%) will simply click away from websites that they find difficult to use..." - AbilityNet
"83% of participants with access needs limit their shopping to sites that they are know are accessible and 86% have chosen to pay more for a product from an accessible website rather than buy the same product for less from a website that was harder to use." - AbilityNet
"Including accessibility across your business strategy can have many benefits. Reaching a wider audience, improved income, legal compliance, and brand loyalty." - Scope

How can I learn more about digital accessibility?
There are many leaders in this field and resources to help us learn about digital accessibility, including related laws and best practices. Here is a list of links that we hope will be helpful. (Please keep checking this webpage for updates.)

Description and examples of barriers in digital spaces:

Web Accessibility Perspectives Videos: Explore the Impact and Benefits for Everyone

Laws about digital access:

Getting started and creating a plan for digital access:

State and Local Governments: First Steps Toward Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II Web and Mobile Application Accessibility Rule
Article: Colorado's Accessibility Approach Goes Beyond Personas, by Julia Edinger, Government Technology website, October 21, 2025
Planning and Managing Web Accessibility
NASCIO IT Accessibility Working Group in Review: A Guide to DOJ Final Rule Compliance - NASCIO
Article: Digital Accessibility Under Title III of the ADA: Recent Developments and Risk Mitigation Best Practices, by Sommerfield, Hill, Desmond, and Ater, American Bar Association website, August 2025

Best practices, guidance, and resources for digital access from leaders in the field:

Partner with EWAA to meet your digital accessibility needs and goals. Check out EWAA's FAQs page to learn more about how we can help you with digital access.

What are the most common issues that make Microsoft Word documents inaccessible?

Article date: June 18, 2026.

The EWAA team has reviewed thousands of Word document pages over the years in order to find and fix accessibility barriers. Here are the top 13 most common issues that we have found:

Wording that is hard to understand.
Text that is hard to see and read.
Meaningful pictures that are missing a description.
Meaningful pictures that have inaccessible placement.
Headings that are missing.
Hyperlinks (or links) that have inaccessible names.
Blank line space that slows reading down.
Lists that are only visual.
Lists that are hard to understand.
Tables that are inaccessible.
Headers or footers that are inaccessible.
Hashtags, emails, and website addresses that are misread.
Text that is only visual.

Luckily, the Word program has a built-in accessibility checker that will tell you if your document has access problems. For example, it will tell you if your document has a picture that is missing a description (called alt-text). But this checker is not 100%. It doesn't check for all of the access errors or warnings that could be on the Word document. (In fact, it doesn't check for most of the issues in our list above!)

Now, here's the good news: You can learn how to make accessible Word documents. The best way is to make the document accessible as you create it. You, the human, can be the best checker! Then you can use the built-in accessibility checker as a way to double-check your work.

There are lots of places that can teach you how to make accessible Word documents. Many trainings are free. Also, there are professionals that will help you check your work so that your Word documents pass the human checker and the built-in accessibility checker before you share documents with your community.

Here's a list of places that can help you make accessible Word documents because they have tips, offer training, or have professionals that can review your documents for you:

What are the most common issues that make PDF (Portable Document Format) documents inaccessible?

Article date: June 18, 2026.

The EWAA team is often asked to review client PDFs, to find and fix access errors. Over the years, almost all PDFs that we come across fail our review and have to be fixed (or remediated). The PDFs we test have accessibility issues that make them hard to read, hard to understand, or totally inaccessible.

Here are the top 12 most common issues that we have found when reviewing PDFs:

Wording that is hard to understand.
Document settings that go against keyboard commands.
Text that is hard to see.
Text that is only visual.
Headings that are only visual.
Meaningful pictures that are missing a description.
Text and pictures that are out of reading order.
Hyperlinks (or links) that have inaccessible names.
Hyperlinks (or links) that are unlabeled.
Tables that are inaccessible.
Form fields and checkboxes that are missing labels.
Hashtags, emails, and website addresses that are misread.

If you create or work on PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro, you might already know about the built-in accessibility checker. That's great! But the built-in accessibility checker is only part of the solution. It does a good job but it can't find all of the access issues that might be on the PDF. It takes a human review to catch more issues and to fix them.

Want to learn more about the human review for PDFs? There are lots of places that can help you! Here's a list of places that have tips, give training, or have professionals that can review your PDFs for improved accessibility:

Articles by the Team

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