"LaTeX Accessibility Is Impossible"
"95-99% of mathematicians use LaTeX. Microsoft Equation Editor is restrictive and less efficient. But how do we make LaTeX accessible?"
— Mathematics Professor, r/Professors (47 upvotes)
"I did everything in latex... to publish papers one has to write it in latex anyway because journals will not accept braill for publication."
— Blind PhD in Astrophysics, r/accessibility
LaTeX isn't optional—it's the only way to publish in STEM. The problem isn't LaTeX source (which is accessible), but making LaTeX output accessible to blind readers.
April 2026 Deadline: 5 months to make all equations accessible
The Problem: LaTeX Is Invisible to Screen Readers
What Students See
\int_0^\infty e^{-x^2} dx = \frac√π{2}Screen reader output: "Backslash int underscore zero caret backslash infty..."
Completely unintelligible to blind students.
What Students Should Hear
"Integral from 0 to infinity of e to the negative x squared, dx, equals square root of pi over 2"
This requires MathML with ARIA labels — not raw LaTeX.
Why This Matters (By the Numbers)
95%+
Of mathematicians use LaTeX exclusively
100%
Of LaTeX equations are inaccessible without conversion
5 months
Until April 2026 WCAG 2.1 compliance deadline
Important: LaTeX Source Is Already Accessible
Blind researchers can and do write LaTeX. LaTeX source code is plain text, which works perfectly with screen readers and terminal-based editors.
"I am using emacs and emacspeak... There I do text editing and coding in whatever programming language I want, writing and compiling latex to produce reports and papers."
— Blind PhD in Astrophysics, r/accessibility
The real problem: Making LaTeX OUTPUT accessible
For Blind Authors (Already Solved)
- LaTeX source is plain text
- Works with screen readers
- Terminal-based editing (Emacs, Vim)
- CLI compilation workflows
- Blind researchers successfully publish papers
For Blind Readers (Unsolved)
- PDF output is inaccessible
- Raw LaTeX in web pages is gibberish
- Images of equations are useless
- Screen readers can't parse math notation
- Students can't consume STEM content
Aelira's Solution: Convert LaTeX Output to Screen-Readable Formats
We don't change how faculty write LaTeX (terminal workflows remain the same). We convert LaTeX output to MathML with ARIA labels, making it accessible to screen readers.
Benefits both blind authors (who can verify their output is accessible) and blind readers (who can consume STEM content)
Why You Can't Just Tell Faculty to Use Equation Editor
1. Decades of Existing Content
Faculty have thousands of LaTeX documents built over 10-20+ years. You can't ask them to manually re-enter every equation in Equation Editor.
Average math course: 500+ equations. Manually retyping = 40-80 hours per course.
2. Limited Functionality
Microsoft Equation Editor doesn't support:
- Advanced packages (amsmath, amssymb, physics)
- Custom macros and environments
- Chemical structures (ChemFig)
- Commutative diagrams (TikZ)
3. Faculty Workflow Disruption
STEM faculty write papers in LaTeX, collaborate in LaTeX, publish in LaTeX. Forcing them to switch tools for only teaching content creates friction.
"I'm considering removing all slide presentations and images from Canvas courses rather than jump through hoops."
— Faculty member, r/Professors (47 upvotes)
The Solution: Automatic LaTeX MathML Conversion
How It Works
Upload LaTeX Files
Bulk upload .tex files, PDFs with embedded LaTeX, or PowerPoint with equations
Automatic Parsing
Aelira parses LaTeX syntax (including amsmath, amssymb, physics packages)
MathML + ARIA Labels
Converts to MathML with ARIA labels for screen reader compatibility
Export Accessible HTML
Get WCAG 2.1 AA compliant HTML ready for Canvas/Blackboard/D2L
What Aelira Supports
- amsmath, amssymb, amsfonts
- physics package (Phase 2)
- ChemFig for chemistry (Phase 2)
- Custom macros (basic support)
- Inline and display equations
Faculty Benefits
- Keep using LaTeX (no workflow change)
- Bulk process 1,000+ equations at once
- Save 40-80 hours per course
- Meet April 2026 deadline stress-free
- No manual equation re-typing
Only Tool with LaTeX/MathML Support
YuJa, Blackboard Ally, and accessiBe don't support LaTeX. Aelira does.
30-day free trial · No credit card required
Get LaTeX Accessibility Demo
See how Aelira converts LaTeX to accessible MathML in seconds. Join 500+ universities preparing for April 2026.