The PDF challenge
Good morning! We the team at www.sterlingcreations.ca would like to bring you an editorial written by our president Donna J. Jodhan.
We hope you find this thought-provoking editorial of value and interest.
We bid you a great weekend.
The PDF challenge
The world seems to have gone PDF crazy and what we are finding now is that the majority of those websites with something to say are using PDF formats to convey their information. All well and good for those who can read PDF files but for blind and visually impaired persons it is a virtual nightmare. Why is this? Very simple!
PDF files are image-based and blind and visually impaired persons are unable to read anything that is image-based. That is, PDF files, and anything on a website that contains an icon or an image. True it is that Adobe continues to work very hard with content developers to make PDF files more user-friendly to blind and visually impaired persons, but if these files are not properly tagged, if the file is not correctly coded, then everything is inaccessible to us. There is yet another problem that we face even if the PDF file is correctly coded and that is: If we do not possess the right combination of access technology then we are doomed.
Yes, the right combination of access technology and for the majority of blind and visually impaired persons, this is a huge problem because without financial assistance it is practically out of reach. In summary, more content developers need to be aware of using appropriate code in order to make PDF content more accessible. More financial assistance needs to be made available to those who do not have the right combination of access technology in order to access PDF content.
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About Donna Jodhan
Donna Jodhan is an award winning blind author, advocate, sight loss coach, blogger, podcast commentator, and accessibility specialist.