I used Claude to help me improve the accessibility of a slide deck for an upcoming presentation. I uploaded the .pptx file and also uploaded a .pdf with instructions about how to make the slide deck compliant with accessibility standards.
I was not hopeful.
I asked Claude to revise the slide deck and provide an updated .pptx file that I could download. It did not work perfectly and some of the AltText was lost. So, I asked Claude to provide the AltTex for each slide and a detailed explanation of the changes. The result allowed me to make a few minor edits to a slide deck myself. The slides are now compliant with the organizational standards for a group I’ll be presenting to next week.
Ensuring slides are accessible has been an intimidating task for me in the past. I have always been afraid of “getting it wrong”. I would spend hours trying to figure out every detail (and things still would not be perfect).
In the end, I was satisfied with the results. Using AI for this has helped me to improve both my competence and confidence. The slides still may not be perfect, but they are better than they were… and better than I could have done on my own.
Have you tried using GenAI to help you improve the accessibility of your documents? If yes, what tips do you have?
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Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a Professor and Research Chair in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer.
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