Digital Accessibility in Practice: Examples from Real-World Projects
Digital accessibility is often discussed in abstract terms. In practice, however, a very concrete question arises: How can it be implemented in day-to-day work? Government agencies, ministries, and private-sector companies face the challenge of making PDF documents accessible. Our case studies show how organizations tackle this task in practice and integrate accessibility step by step into their document workflows.
Example: Accessible documents in the State of Berlin
The State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LAGeSo) in Berlin produces numerous documents every day for both internal and external use. The challenge was to efficiently integrate accessibility into daily work processes.
With axesWord, a solution was implemented that integrates accessibility directly into the document creation process. Today, departments can independently create accessible documents without relying on a small team of experts.
This reduces sources of error, saves time, and simultaneously relieves the workload of central accessibility coordinators.
Example: 400 accessible publications per year at the ministry
Efficiency also plays a central role at the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility, and Infrastructure in Austria. The ministry produces approximately 400 publications annually.
With axesWord, accessible PDFs can be created directly from Microsoft Word. In addition, axesPDF is used to check documents or optimize them after the fact.
This combination makes it possible to reliably provide large volumes of documents in an accessible format without time-consuming manual post-processing.
Example: Accessibility as a corporate standard at Telekom MMS
At Telekom MMS, an IT service provider within the Telekom Group with over 2,000 employees, creating accessible documents also plays a crucial role. With the enactment of the Accessibility Enhancement Act (BFSG), it became clear that centralized post-processing by a specialized department would not be sufficient in the long term.
The solution: enabling accessibility directly where documents are created. With axesWord, employees create accessible PDFs directly in Microsoft Word and integrate accessibility into their daily workflows.
The central accessibility department continues to provide advisory support, while document creation itself takes place decentralized. This has enabled Telekom MMS to embed accessibility scalably throughout the company and efficiently implement legal requirements.
Accessibility as part of the work process
The examples show that successful digital accessibility isn’t just achieved in the final document; it becomes part of the work process.
Organizations benefit most when accessibility:
- is implemented where documents are created
- does not depend solely on specialized teams, but is integrated into the daily work of many employees
- is embedded in existing templates, workflows, and systems
In this way, accessibility becomes not just a specialized topic for individual experts, but an integral part of everyday work.
Discover more real-world examples
On our new References page, you’ll find more examples of projects across a wide range of industries. There, we show how organizations and companies create and validate accessible PDFs and integrate them into their document workflows.
