Accessibility and PDFs

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Accessibili ty and PDFs Gian Wild October 2010 [email protected] www.gianwild.com.au
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Presentation by Gian Wild to the Victoria Online Seminar in Melbourne, 14 October 2010.

Transcript of Accessibility and PDFs

Page 1: Accessibility and PDFs

Accessibility and PDFsGian Wild

October 2010

[email protected]

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