[blindlaw] Questions about Reading Large Documents

[Jim McCarthy]

First, Pattie is right that one always can ask for an accessible version. I
think that may time some explanation regarding how to create an accessible
document, but it is a good option. It is possible in word to create tables
of contents, tables of authority, and the like that have links to take the
user to the page reference. PDF documents probably can be done the same way.
What I do not know is the likelihood that such a table of contents would
carry over when using Fine Reader to OCR/convert the PDF. I would guess the
answer to that is no. One can use the go to function and select page and
type in the page number. What I do not know about this is whether the page
number that would be accessed would correspond to the original. In the
conversion, word may paginate differently from the original PDF you are
converting. Hopefully, I have not told you things you already know. I think
also that there are participants on this list who are likely to have tips
and tricks for this issue, though probably not perfect ones. That gets back
to Pattie's suggestion.
Best
Jim McCarthy

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gregory
Chang Patti via BlindLaw
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2016 7:57 AM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Cc: Gregory Chang Patti
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Questions about Reading Large Documents

I have sometimes asked opposing counsel to send me an accessible copy.  I
matter of factly explain the conversion issues and let them know that I can
respond more quickly if they can accommodate me.  The majority have had no
problem doing so.  


"Every day we raise the expectations of blind people in the National
Federation of the Blind.  Live the Life You Want."

Patti Gregory Chang
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois, Treasurer NFB Scholarship
Committee Chair pattischang at gmail.com NFB of IL: www.nfbofillinois.org
NFB: www.nfb.org

On Aug 26, 2016, at 12:42 AM, Rahul Bajaj via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I hope this message finds you well.
I wanted to solicit suggestions from you all about the possible strategies
that I may be able to adopt to deal with the following
challenges:
A. Almost all documents that I am required to read in order to draft any
written submission in an ongoing litigation are in the form of inaccessible
PDFs. While FineReader helps me convert these documents into word and helps
make them partially accessible, the quality of the output is still not up to
the mark. More specifically, I face the following 2 problems:
1. Tables in the original PDF get disintegrated into several parts which
makes it difficult to make sense of the information that they contain; 2.
Since the devil is always in the detail, it is critical to access specific
bits of information such as the date on which a certain event happened, the
para number of the submission of the other party, the precise figures that
have been set forth, etc. Even though I use Fine Reader 11 and have tried
using applications like RoboBraille to obtain better conversion results, the
final Word Document often does not convey such information accurately. For
instance, if I have to draft a para-wise reply to the other party's written
submission, I need to know the precise para number in which they have set
forth a specific assertion. I am unable to do so at this juncture.
B. In a large word document, how can I quickly jump to a certain document
that forms the subject matter of the legal dispute? For instance, if I have
to quickly refer to a letter that one party may have sent to the other, how
can I get to that in an expeditious fashion? The table of contents
delineates the page numbers on which various documents can be found, but
unlike a PDF, one cannot jump to a certain page number in a Word document,
as far as I know. Further, the sequence of the page numbers also gets
disrupted by the conversion process from PDF to Word.

Would be grateful if anyone could share possible ideas for grappling with
these challenges.

Best,
Rahul

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