ToW: Make Everything More Accessible with SensusAccess

Keeping up with reading is a critical part of college success, and so making sure course materials are available in a variety of accessible formats is important. For example, some faculty and students with low vision use screen readers to navigate the web and read documents. Others need documents in Braille. Anyone can require accommodations at different points–for example, students with concussion often can’t look at a screen, but need to be able to keep up with coursework.

To respond to this need, Trinity has subscribed to a software service called SensusAccess, which converts files from less accessible formats into more accessible ones. To take only the handiest example: SensusAccess can take a PDF document, even a basic one made by a copy machine, and turn it into an MP3, an e-book, a plain text file, or even just a PDF with semantic tags that allow a screen reader to better describe the content. It can also take a batch of text and give you an accessible version, or convert a web page.

SensusAccess is available to anyone with a Trinity email address. Just go to the main SensusAccess page, identify the kind of material you want to convert, and follow the on-screen instructions. After you’re done, you’ll get an email indicating the file is ready. One of the great things about the service is that it’s self-contained, so anyone can request a file be converted at any time–there’s no need to wait for business hours.

If you have any questions about working with SensusAccess, please don’t hesitate to contact anyone in Educational Technology!