Quarterly Web Accessibility Workshop, Summer 2005

Panel Members Share Their Struggles With PDF Documents

The goal of August 9th's workshop was to leave the audience with a lasting impression. Three panel members with visual impairments discussed their experiences and frustrations with PDF's. Floyd White, member of the Accessibility Committee, and a Sr. Program Analyst for the Office of Information Technology began by attempting to demonstrate how WindowEyes reads them. The first PDF locked up the computer system, then the text of a searchable PDF was not recognized by the screen reader. The fields of a fillable form were accessible however, but the keyboard functions to navigate through the page were not working. Although this portion of the workshop did not go as planned, the audience experienced first hand the exasperation inaccessible PDF documents bring about.

Pauline Lamontagne, Chair of the Government IT Accessibility Committee, is a lawyer and works for the Department of Education as a due process coordinator. JAWS is her preferred screen reader. The amount of time Pauline loses attempting to download PDF documents is her biggest concern. Often times, after going through the process of downloading a PDF, she finds it is not accessible. She then must take the time to contact somebody to provide it in another format. The information she needs is vital, and in her profession, time is of the essence. Providing documents in another format saves her numerous hours and much frustration.

Steve Sawczyn, owner of Assistive Technology of Maine, has years of experience in accessibility software training. He has been utilizing technology since the third grade to obtain information he can't see. Steve reminded the audience that although State Employees have access to recent versions of screen readers, most disabled individuals do not, because of the expense. Installing plug ins or attempting to open PDF documents in the newest versions can crash systems. Providing an HTML format will ensure a document is accessible to the broadest range of individuals.

After many questions were answered by the panel members, Kelly Hokkanen of InforME presented valuable information about PDF's such as the three types, accessibility and usability issues, things to consider before using them, and a list of other formats to consider.

OIT INFORMATION

Quarterly Web Accessibility Workshop, Summer 2005

Panel Members Share Their Struggles With PDF Documents