Accessibility starts with clear communication. It isn’t only about tags, alt text, colour contrast or whether a PDF passes an accessibility checker.
It’s also about whether people can find, understand and use the information you’re giving them.
Accessibility Standards Canada has published CAN-ASC-3.1:2025 – Plain Language, a National Standard of Canada that provides guidance for creating clear, accessible and effective communication.
What caught my attention is how closely the standard connects plain language, accessibility and design. It defines plain language around three things working together:
Wording. Structure. Design.
That means accessibility starts long before a document reaches the PDF remediation stage. It starts by asking:
- Who is this information for?
- What do they need to find and understand?
- Is the information organized in a logical way?
- Do headings and visual hierarchy help people navigate?
- Are typography, spacing, contrast and layout helping rather than creating barriers?
- Will the communication work with assistive technology?
- Has the intended audience had an opportunity to provide feedback?
Design matters too
One of the things I particularly appreciate about the standard is its recognition that design is part of plain language. Good information design helps people understand relationships, identify what’s important, navigate content and find what they need. When accessibility and plain language are considered at the beginning of a project, rather than after a document has already been designed, the result is usually better — and much easier to maintain.
Listen. Test. Improve.
CAN-ASC-3.1:2025 also places the intended audience at the centre of the process. Where audience consultation or testing is appropriate, feedback can be incorporated into the communication and used to improve future versions. That’s an important reminder that accessibility isn’t simply something we do to a document. It’s about the people who need to use it.
It fits the Accessibility Roadmap
This is also why plain language fits naturally into the way I approach accessibility projects at epubsupport.
Assess. Plan. Remediate. Validate.
Accessible communication begins with understanding the audience and planning the content, structure and design. From there, accessible production, remediation, testing and validation become part of the same process. At the end of the day, accessible communication should do something very simple: