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"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 the act of writing LaTeX (plain-text source works well for blind authors). It's that course .tex files usually lack accessibility scaffolding — alt text, document language, labeled structure — and the compiled output is unreadable to screen readers.
April 2027 Deadline: Time to make all equations accessible is running out
\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.
"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.
95%+
Of mathematicians use LaTeX exclusively
100%
Of LaTeX equations are inaccessible without conversion
~10 months
Until the April 26, 2027 WCAG 2.1 compliance deadline
Adoption figures are approximate and based on Aelira's internal estimates from publicly available information; actual results vary.
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
We don't change how faculty write LaTeX (terminal workflows remain the same). Aelira remediates the .tex file itself — injecting the accessibility package, setting document language, adding figure alt text, and repairing heading, table, and equation-label structure — then compiles it to accessible HTML and PDF with MathML and ARIA labels. You get the fixed source back, plus screen-reader-ready output.
Benefits both blind authors (who can verify their output is accessible) and blind readers (who can consume STEM 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.
Microsoft Equation Editor doesn't support:
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)
Bulk upload .tex files, PDFs with embedded LaTeX, or PowerPoint with equations
Aelira fixes the .tex itself: accessibility package injection, document language, figure alt text, heading and table structure, equation labels
Equations are parsed (amsmath, amssymb, physics) and converted to MathML with natural-language ARIA labels for screen readers
Get the remediated .tex back, plus WCAG 2.1 AA HTML and an accessible PDF (MathML preserved) ready for Canvas
Other tools convert math output to MathML. Aelira fixes the .tex itself and hands back remediated source plus accessible HTML and PDF, preserving the workflows STEM faculty already use.
Ask about a bounded pilot · Scope agreed in writing
See how Aelira converts LaTeX to accessible MathML in seconds. Join the pilot program preparing for April 2027.