accessibility and pdfs
Post on 21-Oct-2014
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Presentation by Gian Wild to the Victoria Online Seminar in Melbourne, 14 October 2010.TRANSCRIPT
www.gianwild.com.au
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What is online accessibility?
Online accessibility: The ability for a person with a disability to
understand and use a web site, application intranet, or program
Governed by: AHRC: Disability Discrimination Act
Achieved by: W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
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Accessibility is important…
It allows people with disabilities to: access information like anyone else interact with others without being
categorised as “disabled” undertake activities which they are not
otherwise able to do
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People with Disabilities
What types of people with disabilities are assisted by an accessible web site? Disabilities affecting vision Disabilities affecting how the mind interprets
information Disabilities affecting movement Disabilities affecting hearing
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Disabilities affecting vision
Types of visual disabilities: Blindness Colour blindness Glaucoma Cataracts
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How do people with visual disabilities access the web?
Assistive technologies: Screen readers or braille readers Braille keyboards or large size keyboards Magnifiers
User techniques: Increasing text size Turning off JavaScript Changing text and background colour
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Disabilities affecting the mind
Types of cognitive disabilities: Epilepsy & migraine Dyslexia Aphasia Problems with memory Reading disabilities
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Disabilities affecting the mind
Assistive technologies: Screen readers Speech recognition software Screen masking software Hover highlighting software Dictionary definition software
User techniques: Turning off Flash, JavaScript
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Disabilities affecting movement
Types of physical disabilities: Cerebral palsy Motor Neuron Disease Huntington’s Parkinson’s Quadriplegia
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Disabilities affecting movement
Assistive technologies: Joysticks Modified or onscreen keyboards Touchscreens & headwands Switches
User techniques: Turning off Flash, JavaScript Using the keyboard only Increasing text size
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Disabilities affecting hearing
Types of audio disabilities: Profound deafness Hard of hearing
Assistive technologies: Speech to text translators
User techniques: Open or closed captioning (by the author)
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Legal Requirements
The provision of information and online services through the Worldwide Web is a service covered by the DDA. Equal access for people with a disability in this area is required by the DDA where it can reasonably be provided.
World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/standards/www_3/www_3.html
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Legal PrecedentsJune 1999 – August 2000 Bruce Maguire lodged a HREOC complaint
about the Sydney Olympics web site HREOC ruled in Maguire’s favour
September 2000 SOCOG ignored HREOC and fined $20,000 Legal fees greater than $500,000
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Disability Discrimination Act
Recommends following W3C WCAG, Version 1.0
Will be moving to W3C WCAG, Version 2.0 AGIMO has a recommended timeframe for
federal sites: WCAG2 Level A: December 2012 WCAG2 Level AA: December 2015
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AGIMO National Transition Strategy
Preparation phase: July – Dec 2010 Agency website stocktake WCAG2 conformance check Website infrastructure assessment Capability assessment Risk assessment Mitigation projects led by AGIMO
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What does this mean for PDFs?WCAG1 (Level A):
Requires an accessible equivalent for all PDFs: RTF or HTML or Text or Word document
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What does this mean for PDFs?WCAG1 (Level AA):
Above and Requires PDFs to be tagged with accessibility
features, such as: Headings Alternative text for images Bookmarks Links
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The AGIMO PDF project People with disabilities make more complaints
to the Australian Human Rights Commission about PDF documents than any other format
40 submissions to the AGIMO PDF project including those from: Adobe Government departments Assistive technology manufacturers People with disabilities Accessibility specialists
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The AGIMO PDF project Vision Australia tested a variety of PDFs with
low vision and blind users. They found: There was a strong negative attitude about
PDF Even with assistance a tagged PDF was often
difficult to use Lack of support for certain scanning and
navigation features. For more see my blog post:
http://www.gianwild.com/2010/06/11/a-few-problems-with-the-concept-of-accessible-pdfs-part-two/
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The AGIMO PDF project
PDFs were tested against the technology-neutral WCAG2.
Different PDFs were tested: Adobe tagged “best practice” PDFs Specialist tagged PDFs Non-tagged PDFs
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The AGIMO PDF project
Talked to assistive technology vendors: What is supported? How many people use the technology? What will be supported?
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What does this mean for PDFs?PDF will not be defined as an “accessible
technology”
WCAG2 will require: An accessible equivalent for all PDFs:
RTF or HTML or Text or Word document
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ConclusionsPDF is not defined as an “accessible
technology” because: The design of the PDF file (and no universal
definition of an “accessible PDF”) Technical ability of the assistive technologies Skill of the end user (using an assistive
technology with a PDF is different to HTML)
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Some advances in PDF accessibility
For people with severe vision impairments, tagging is essential.
For people with mild visual impairments, physical and cognitive disabilities, BrowseAloud can interpret untagged PDF documents
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Cognitive disabilities and low literacy…
6.2 million adults have low literacy levels 2 million people with dyslexia or specific
learning difficulties 3 million people with English as a foreign
language 300,000 people who have a mild visual
impairment 4 million people with a registered disability
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More on accessibility… eGovernment Accessibility Toolkit WebAIM W3C Web Accessibility Initiative www.gianwild.com.au http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/category/a
ccessibility/
Twitter: #accessibilityoz