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Re: PDF on websites + PDF is *not* accessible

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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Jul 10, 2013 2:03PM

Gary,
Just to be clear, the Acrobatusers.com site is a user community, so the document you are referring to is not an Adobe document. For the record, I agree that the word choice is not right also.

For users who depend on Speech recognition, this is an area where the speech recognition tools _could_ support interaction with Adobe Reader to red PDF documents in a more robust way, but haven't. Some speech recognition tool makers don't regard their tool as an accessibility tool but merely an efficiency tool, so they haven't bothered to utilize the accessibility API information that Reader provides for all assistive technologies, not just for screen readers or screen magnifiers. As a result, these tools do provide access to PDF documents but not with the full efficiency that is possible to help the end users.

I totally agree that speech recognition gets inadequate focus - if you have suggestions about how we can help promote improvements I'm happy to work toward greater access.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

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http://twitter.com/awkawk
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility

From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E] [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 1:33 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Cc: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] PDF on websites + PDF is *not* accessible

Andrew - and with all due respect, while Accessibility of PDF may not be "largely focused on screen reader access for users who are blind", I do have to say that it is still largely focused on persons with vision impairments, even it if is across the range of vision impairment and not 'just' blind. Even in Chapter 21, Making Forms Accessible (http://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/making-forms-accessible), the following is stated:
* Accessible forms contain the structure and design that optimizes readability on screen reading devices for the vision and motion challenged users.
"Motion challenged" users - at least, those persons with dexterity impairments that I know and speaking for myself - do NOT use screen reading devices. We use speech recognition software. They're very different - and it's still very strongly ignored by the US's Section 508 "community" or "professionals" and, in general, by many if not most accessibility specialists. There's misinformation, lack of real understanding of the diversity of persons with disabilities and, all too often, a dismissing attitude when such issues are raised.
I applaud Adobe's addressing more than 'just' blind persons. And/but, like most of the accessibility and the IT professions, it's still pretty much vision-related only.
Speaking only for myself, not my employer, my worksite, or anyone else.
In peace and collegiality,
Gary
* Padova, Ted. Making forms accessible. February 1, 2013. http://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/making-forms-accessible
As a side note, "vision challenged" and "motion challenged" seem to be rather poor euphemisms for disability status.