eBook Accessibility

The practice of ensuring that electronic books and digital publications are usable by people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers, refreshable braille displays, or other assistive technologies. Accessible eBooks require proper semantic structure (headings, lists, tables), text-based content rather than images of text, alternative text for images, navigable table of contents, customizable display settings (font size, color, spacing), and compatibility with assistive technologies. The EPUB format with its support for accessibility metadata and reflowable content is generally considered the most accessible eBook format. Key challenges include publishers producing image-only PDFs, DRM restrictions that block assistive technology access, and the slow production timeline for accessible versions of new titles.