Because all 64 SUNY institutions must be in compliance with the new ADA regulations by April 2026, SUNY has partnered with Deque University to provide free online, self-paced training to faculty, staff and students.

Editor’s note: In this article, Center for Teaching and Learning staff Alexandra Belanich and Robin Hill share resources to help colleagues learn how to ensure all of their materials are ADA compliant before the April 2026 deadline. In the companion article, Director of Disability Services Jen Forni reviews the changes in federal regulations for ADA compliance, addressing what the regulations are, why they are needed and who is responsible for compliance.

Because all SUNY campuses must be in compliance with the improved ADA regulations as of April 2026, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is happy to report that SUNY has entered into an agreement with Deque University to provide free, self-paced accessibility training to faculty, staff and students across all SUNY campuses. We have taken the training ourselves and found it to be straightforward and easy to follow.

To enroll, first request a Deque University account. You will receive an email from training@deque.com with welcome information and instructions on how to set up your account.

Once enrolled, the training you need depends on your role, the level of knowledge you already have and the types of documents you are creating. We recommend that everyone complete the prerequisite because it provides the foundation for understanding accessibility principles.

Then, complete either the basic or advanced training depending upon your needs. After completing the training, you may need to remediate documents for your role or department. To do that, you should consult with your supervisor and request any necessary software licenses from the Informational Technology Services (ITS) department by submitting a ticket to Suffolk Help.

Note: You must be enrolled and logged in to Deque to access the links.

Below is the list of modules we recommend, along with the approximate time needed to complete them. A certificate will be generated after successful completion of each module.

Required prerequisite for all modules

• Basic Web and Document Accessibility for Content Contributors: Overview of accessibility principles that apply to all types of content —  1 hour 30 minutes

Basic training

• Fast Track to Accessibility for Microsoft Office: Covering most important steps for Word, PowerPoint and Excel, appropriate for basic documents, e.g., syllabus, letters, simple PowerPoint presentations, and simple Excel spreadsheets — 1 hour and 15 minutes

Advanced training

• Microsoft Word Accessibility Techniques: Appropriate for newsletters, multipage documents with complex layouts, e.g., headers and footers, footnotes or endnotes, columns, charts or graphs, embedded files, equations or flyers — 1 hour 15 minutes

• Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Techniques: Appropriate for complex layouts, e.g., headers and footers, footnotes or endnotes, embedded media, equations, captions — 45 minutes

• Microsoft Excel Accessibility Techniques: Appropriate for advanced spreadsheets that include charts, graphs, embedded media, macros, advanced formulas — 2 hours 15 minutes

• Basic PDF Accessibility 3.0: Covers tagging documents in a PDF creator as well as PDF remediation (note: Although this module is labeled as basic, it requires advanced knowledge of Adobe Acrobat Pro) — 45 minutes

Other resources

Created by CTL, the SCCC Digital Accessibility Overview is updated regularly and covers Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Brightspace, PDFs, video/audio and Microsoft Teams. It can be used as a checklist.

YuJa is really good for generating captions. Use it to screen capture and add narration to presentations. Video and audio require captions and a transcript to be accessible and, depending on the content, you might also need audio description. YuJa can do all of this.

Word, PowerPoint and Excel all have a built-in accessibility checker; however, this tool does not always catch all the accessibility rules and is therefore not always 100% reliable.

Brightspace has integrated accessibility tools. Click on the gauge icon   that appears after you create a module topic (aka item) in a module or upload a file. It will give you an accessibility percentage and tell you which issues need correcting. The Brightspace text editor also has its own accessibility checker. It looks like a circle with a person inside it  .

MathType is a software used to create accessible mathematical equations. It is supported by the college. If you require a license, put in a ticket with ITS by going to Suffolk Help.

Check out the accessibility section on the CTL website for updated tutorials and other news.