Alternate Format of Text Materials

Alternate Format Accommodations for Students

Alternate format accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis, in consideration of an individual’s disability documentation or presentation of the functional limitations of a print related disability preventing them from reading traditional text material.

Students may use text-to-speech technology (i.e. electronic reader) to have alphabet based format text read aloud. Therefore, alphabet based format text material (PDF, word documents, online articles, etc.) must be accessible to text-to-speech programs.

Alternate Format of Course Material Provided by Instructor: Enlarged Print

Paper documents provided to the student need to be printed in a minimum of 16-point font. Enlarging some material (manipulatives/ images/charts, etc.) may impact the integrity of material, or may not be possible. Personal portable magnification may be a better alternative to manual enlargement for the student. Please communicate with ODR if you have material which cannot be enlarged.

Alternate Format of Course Material Provided by Instructor: Accessible Electronic Version

All course materials, including documents, tests, articles, etc., provided to the class need to be accessible to assistive technologies via an accessible electronic version.

Photocopies from books are generally not accessible unless they have been converted using optical character recognition (OCR). Use best practices for making and converting accessible documents and creating accessible course content.


Alternate Format of Materials

The following formats are generally available:

  • Electronic text through ODR:

    • Electronic text from the publisher

    • Text scanned and edited

Individuals may use university equipment to scan and convert text or request materials through ODR. Training is available to assist individuals in conversion of materials.

Electronic Format of Books Procedure

For non-rental textbooks, individuals should first attempt to purchase accessible versions of books, if available.

Once approved by ODR for alternate format, individuals are encouraged to contact the course instructor or the University Bookstore to obtain the following information for each textbook: title, author, publisher, edition, and ISBN number.

To request an electronic format, individuals must complete an Electronic Format Text Request. ODR contacts publishers to obtain electronic format versions or permission to convert,  therefore, early submission of requests is vital to ensure the timeliness of material. If the publisher is unable to provide an electronic format, ODR will contact individuals to discuss alternative options.

Before ODR can release the electronic format of textbooks, individuals must sign an Electronic Format Textbook Agreement in ODR and submit proof of purchase/rentals.

After obtaining electronic format from ODR, individuals may use assistive technology such as text-to-speech or screen magnification to read the material.  Alternate format materials are for individual use only and may not be shared; any duplication of materials is prohibited.

Alternate Format of Other Materials Procedure

Individuals requesting other materials, such as articles, booklets, manuals, etc., to be converted to an alternate format (e.g., accessible PDF) should seek to determine if an accessible version is available.  If an accessible version is not readily available, the student should complete an Alternate Format of Other Materials Request. If there are questions, ODR will contact the individual to discuss alternative options.