The adapted publishing sector faces a dual challenge: ensuring content accessibility while optimizing workflows.

Thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI), a new dynamic is emerging: innovation serving inclusion.

Recently, Ask Mona partnered with INJA (National Institute for Young Blind People) to conduct a groundbreaking study on the use of AI in accessible publishing. The goal? Identify best practices and train professionals to leverage AI tools to enhance both content accessibility and editorial processes.

Eva Dolowski, Coordinator of the National Mission for Accessible Publishing, highlights the success of this initiative:

“I sincerely thank you for these two perfect days. It was engaging, instructive, practical, and stimulating… truly a tailor-made experience. You opened up numerous new avenues. All of this is exhilarating! In short, now it’s time to write and grow the accessibility of tomorrow.”

Advanced Study on AI’s Impact in Accessible Publishing

For the first time, a large-scale study measured how AI can transform accessible publishing practices. Ask Mona conducted field interviews with stakeholders involved in accessible content production and analyzed the specific needs associated with various disabilities.

Two main areas emerged:

• Content adaptation: optimizing texts, images, and documents for audiences with visual, auditory, or cognitive impairments.
• Workflow adaptation: adjusting team methods and tools to enable professionals with disabilities to fully participate in editorial production.

This pioneering approach identified concrete practices and innovation levers, serving as a benchmark for cultural organizations and institutions looking to make their content more accessible using AI.

Tailored Training for Accessible Publishing Professionals

Beyond the study, Ask Mona developed a two-day training program for transcribers, adaptors, and publishing professionals. The aim: teach teams how to use AI tools to enhance content accessibility.

Key skills covered include:

• Visual recommendations: automate image descriptions and document formatting to make content accessible.
• Text generation: adapt or enrich content for diverse audiences.
• Image generation: create illustrations tailored to specific accessibility needs.

About 20 professionals were able to immediately apply these AI tools to their projects with personalized, hands-on guidance—resulting in a direct improvement in content quality and accessibility.

Best Practices and Key Resources for Integrating AI

Like INJA, organizations can seize the opportunity to train their teams on AI’s role in accessibility. The training experience demonstrated that AI becomes truly transformative only when applied practically by engaged teams.

From these hands-on sessions and participant feedback, several best practices stand out:

1. Identify your audience’s precise needs to select the most appropriate AI tools.
2. Provide practical, hands-on training with real-life cases and exercises.
3. Integrate AI into existing workflows, rather than creating isolated systems.
4. Leverage field feedback to continuously refine methods.

Through this approach, Ask Mona showcases its deep expertise in AI and accessible publishing, helping professionals tackle the challenges of accessible publishing today and tomorrow.

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