Madeleine Rothberg, she/her, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)

What is the best alternative text for graphs, charts, and complex diagrams? Provide consistent and clear text alternatives for images from simple to complicated by applying research-based solutions. Start with the basic principles of brevity, data, clarity, and drill-down organization. Then use proven techniques to provide well-structured and useful alternative text that does not overwhelm the reader. Images in assessments use the same techniques, with a bit more care to ensure the assessment is valid. Using these ideas, you will be ready to approach any image and break it down into text. Bring your questions and examples for discussion.

For more than 25 years, Madeleine has led NCAM’s efforts in educational standards, metadata on the web, health IT solutions and transit communications. She promotes accessible solutions such as captions, talking software and audio description, as well as improvements to infrastructure through standards and consistent application of accessibility guidelines. Madeleine led creation of the Access For All specifications for personalized accessibility and participated in the publication of that work as ISO/IEC standard 24751. She serves on the EPUB Accessibility working group. Her background in science and math contributes to success in making STEM education accessible to learners with visual impairments.