PDFs: The Forgotten Challenge of Digital Accessibility – and How AI Can Fix It

When people talk about digital accessibility, they often focus on websites, apps, or social media. But there’s one format that quietly slips under the radar – and yet dominates professional communication: the PDF.

Annual reports, brochures, forms – PDFs are everywhere. And they are notoriously inaccessible. Screen readers stumble over complex tables, images remain without descriptions, translations are clumsy, and plain language versions are almost never available. For people with disabilities, this means exclusion at scale.

The urgency is growing: In 2025, the European Accessibility Act will make accessible documents mandatory across Europe. For organizations, this means more than compliance – it’s a question of inclusion, reputation, and in some cases, heavy fines.

This is where the barrierefrAI PDF Pro Tool comes in. By harnessing artificial intelligence, it transforms the way PDFs are handled. What used to take hours of manual work can now be done in minutes: inaccessible brochures become structured, readable documents with accurate alt texts, properly formatted tables, and semantic headings. Even better, the tool goes beyond compliance: it generates versions in Easy-to-Read and Plain Language, and instantly translates content into nine different languages.

A real-world test shows the impact: A 25-page tourism flyer with diagrams and 45 images was converted into a fully accessible HTML version in just eight minutes – a task that would have taken a human at least a full working day.

The true innovation is not just efficiency, but equity. People who rely on Plain Language receive the same information as everyone else. Multilingual audiences can access documents without delay. Accessibility is no longer a burden – it becomes a driver of inclusion and reach.

👉 Watch our short video to see the tool in action:

👉 “Try barrierefrAI PDF Pro now – the first 25 pages are completely free.”

➡️ Link: Pricing