WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Medical terms and acronyms

for

From: Piscitelli, JoAnn
Date: May 21, 2018 12:34PM

Thanks to all for the input and validation!

Jo

On 5/21/18, 1:29 PM, "WebAIM-Forum on behalf of glen walker" < <EMAIL REMOVED> on behalf of <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

I agree with Lisa, include both the spelled out term and acronym. The user
might encounter the acronym on another site and if they learned what it
meant from your website, so much the better.

Keep in mind that if an acronym spells out an actual word, there are some
screen reader / browser combinations that will try to read the acronym as a
word. For example, if you have "per os" and use the abbreviation PO, you
might hear the individual letters, "pee" "oh", or you might hear the word
"poh". Don't worry about that. Screen reader users (unfortunately) are
used to this weirdness and can read the term letter by letter if needed.


On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 10:56 AM, L Snider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi Jo,
>
> I would say to add the acronym, as it could be useful for everyone. Plus if
> the text changes in future, you already have it there and then don't have
> to go back to add it if it is used by the acronym in the changed text (if
> that makes sense?).
>
> Cheers
>
> Lisa
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 9:58 AM, Piscitelli, JoAnn <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > I'm updating medical profiles for doctors. I know that when using
> acronyms
> > the term has to be spelled out in the first instance and then the acronym
> > in parenthesis immediately after. If a medical term is only used once
> > should the acronym still accompany it? The reason I'm asking is because I
> > think that although a doc may refer to medical terms in acronym form that
> > users with a screen reader would still benefit from having both the
> spelled
> > out term AND the acronym even if the medical term is only mentioned once
> on
> > a profile page. I hope I was able to word my question clearly enough!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Jo
> > > > > >
> > >