[blindlaw] Accessibility of PDF Textbooks Obtained Directly from the Publisher

Fri Jan 9 19:34:20 UTC 2015

The burden is on the school: http://www.pacer.org/publications/adaqa/504.asp

However, the publishers often provide the PDF versions of their texts when available. Whether a publisher is required to provide the PDF or not, it is in a publisher's interest to do so because they can contractually control the sharing of the PDF that way (e.g., publisher-provided PDFs can't be shared on bookshare, whereas a student-scanned PDF could be).

On Jan 9, 2015, at 2:13 PM, Shannon via blindlaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> So is it the publishers that are legally required to provide or the schools?
> Please provide the regulation or statute imposing this requirement.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anita
> Keith-Foust via blindlaw
> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2015 1:09 PM
> To: 'Michal Nowicki'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'; 'Illinois Association of
> Blind Students List'
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Accessibility of PDF Textbooks Obtained Directly
> from the Publisher
> 
> Dear Michal:
> 
> You have really revealed a lot of great information about the publishers
> responsibilities. I had no clue about this. My poor butchered books! I will
> look into this. 
> 
> My experience has been extremely negative when it comes to getting textbook
> information in advance. As you know, I am working towards to making that
> change at my alma mater.
> 
> All of your questions are really good and the answers to these research
> questions certainly will help all of us.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Anita Keith-Foust
> 919-430-1978
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michal
> Nowicki via blindlaw
> Sent: Monday, January 5, 2015 1:08 PM
> To: 'Illinois Association of Blind Students List'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'
> Subject: [blindlaw] Accessibility of PDF Textbooks Obtained Directly from
> the Publisher
> 
> Dear Current Students and Recent Graduates,
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that you are ready for
> 2015.
> 
> 
> 
> I am addressing this message to you directly, though I welcome responses
> from everyone who is willing and able to provide them, because I know that
> you can give me the most accurate information.  I'm sure many of you know
> that publishers are required to provide students with print disabilities
> textbooks in alternate format if the students provide proof of purchase.
> This obviously applies to books that are not readily accessible online or
> through a library service like LearningAlly and/or Bookshare.org, in which
> case members may download them without even contacting the publisher.  To
> satisfy this requirement, most, if not all, publishers offer such materials
> in PDF format.
> 
> 
> 
> That being established, I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me
> some information as to the navigability of these documents with JAWS and
> other screen readers.  Since publishers offer this service as an ADA
> accommodation, I would expect, at least in theory, them to be fully
> accessible.  That is, I would expect them to be tagged, as well as for
> headings and other HTML elements to be used properly.  However, is this
> actually the case?  If not, are the files accessible enough that you
> recommend using them in an academic environment, such as law school?  Also,
> do all publishers seem to follow the same accessibility standards?
> 
> 
> 
> I am asking you all these questions because as an undergrad, I received all
> materials from the office for students with disabilities in Word format.
> That is, when the office received PDFs from publishers, they always
> converted them into Word files for me.  Consequently, I never even saw the
> publisher PDFs, so I don't know anything about their accessibility.  Looking
> ahead to law school, though, I would like to spare document conversion staff
> the extra work if it turns out that publisher PDFs can be navigated
> efficiently using assistive technology.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally, I have some questions specific to law school case books.  Based on
> the research I have conducted, my understanding is that entering law
> students are often not assigned to instructors until the semester is about
> to begin.  Is this true?  If so, can such students be granted priority
> registration as a reasonable accommodation?  If not, what steps can they
> take to insure that the disability office has enough time, if applicable, to
> scan their textbooks before classes begin?  Finally, how responsive do
> publishers of law school case books tend to be when they receive a request
> for electronic copies of the books?
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you in advance for answering my questions.  I eagerly look forward to
> reading your responses.
> 
> 
> 
> Best,
> 
> 
> 
> Michal
> 
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