Jefferson County CO Digital Accessibility Case Study
What began as a single compliance engagement with Jefferson County’s Business Innovation & Technology department grew into a 7-month, multi-phase partnership spanning two county departments and thousands of documents—delivered ahead of every deadline.
Project Overview
Jefferson County’s BIT department engaged Write-Brained in 2024 to remediate 300+ internal job aids for Colorado HB 21-1110 compliance. Write-Brained Editorial delivered two months ahead of schedule—and built lasting capacity: accessible Word templates, NVDA training, and Word-to-PDF workflows staff could maintain independently. That performance earned a direct referral to Safety & Compliance, where Melissa led a second, more complex phase. Working without source files, she remediated static maps, 200+ page reports, and complex PDFs—and authored a Static Maps Accessibility Guide for the county GIS team.
Problem
HB 21-1110 created urgent remediation needs across Jefferson County. The BIT team needed 300+ job aids brought into Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA compliance without disrupting operations. Safety & Compliance faced a harder challenge: no source files, static maps with no accessibility precedent, large-scale reports, and multiple contractors working simultaneously on the most complex documents.
Solutions
Phase 1 — Business Innovation & Technology
Remediated 300+ job aids using Adobe Acrobat Pro, CommonLook, and NVDA testing. Designed accessible Word templates with plain language standards. Developed document accessibility training presentations and Word-to-PDF workflow documentation for ongoing staff use.
Phase 2 — Safety & Compliance
Remediated complex PDFs (static maps, 200+ page reports) directly from PDF with no source files, using advanced tagging techniques. Authored the Static Maps Accessibility Guide for the GIS team. Provided subject matter coordination support to other accessibility contractors on the engagement.
Results
Delivered 300+ job aid remediations two months ahead of schedule, customizing Word templates and implementing systematic PDF conversion processes.
Completed 2,500+ complex PDF remediation across Safety & Compliance documents with no source files available (including static maps and reports of 200+ pages), applying advanced tagging techniques.
Authored the Static Maps Accessibility Guide for the GIS team, a critical resource to support accessible map production.
Developed NVDA demonstration workflows and accessibility training materials that gave county staff the tools to maintain compliance independently.
Grew from a single-department contract to a 7-month, multi-department partnership through consistent overdelivery—with an open invitation to support future county accessibility work.
“Your expertise in digital accessibility has made a real impact.I’m especially grateful for how responsive, flexible, and solution-oriented you’ve been. You consistently went above and beyond — not only completing the work at a high level of quality, but also creating helpful guides and resources that will continue to benefit our team and the county moving forward. Your openness, collaboration, and willingness to jump into whatever was needed truly stood out. I’m glad we have a plan to stay in touch, and I’d love to keep you in the loop about future opportunities with Jeffco.”
—Shannon L., Digital Accessibility Coordinator, Safety & Compliance, Jefferson County Colorado