Enabling people with disabilities: Creating accessible electronic documents

Rather than equating disability with personal identity, we can better understand disability as the consequence of disabling environments. This alternative view suggests that changing the environment can enable people with sensory, motor, and cognitive/learning impairments to participate more fully in everyday life. This view is also consistent with the goal of medical writers to be aware of their audience (i.e. their relevant abilities/skills, cultural beliefs, and knowledge base). To achieve this goal, we must strive to create electronic documents that can be perceived and understood by people with a variety of impairments. The main objectives of this article are: • to increase awareness of the difficulties caused by inaccessible electronic documents • to describe guidelines for creating accessible electronic documents • to provide resources for continuing education