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Re: Naming and labeling tables in Word

for

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: May 28, 2014 1:32PM

[Jonathan wrote] If you start to focus solely on making documents accessible
only for AT, you run the risk of inadvertently ignoring disabilities that
don't technically require AT

Agreed. One big problem with the current MS Word format and possibly with
word processing formats in general is that there is no clear way to mark up
data tables. You can mark a header row but that's it. There are situations
where having an option such as the JAWS option to assign column or row
headers is effective and helpful to the user. One example is a teacher of
visually impaired who has an otherwise accessible Word document but needs to
prep the document for a young student to assist with JAWS automatically
speaking the headers as the user tabs through the table.

The above situation doesn't make the document compliant but it provides an
accommodation in a situation where a TVI might not know how to code in HTML
but can set bookmarks in a table. I think this is why we have these types
of options available -- as supports or accommodations in situations where
there are few other options.

Jonathan (Avila)