[blindlaw] Internal Office Procedure for Making Documents Accessible to Screen Readers

Thu Jan 21 18:05:55 UTC 2016

Hi Tai,

I prefer OmniPage or Abbey Fine Reader.

Preserving the visual look of a document (in as far as possible) is the ideal.

I prefer to convert the files I use into text e.g. .txt files and to
open them in word pad or note pad because then I can avoid using the
OCR software's interface.

That works well, where the document has page numbers (as most
correspondence from other lawyers will) or has numbered paragraphs.

Another approach would be to convert the documents into rtf, or .doc.
They will preserve the pagination, as far as I understand it. I find
files using those formats slower, especially if they are large.

If you really need to identify a page, you can break the file into
.jpeg files each of which will hold only one image (one page); ocr the
jpegs to text and then search for the text file matching the jpeg
which contains what you are looking for.

That is how I do it anyway. I'm very open to being told of a better way!

Kind regards

Ger

On 1/21/16, Tai Tomasi via blindlaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Ger,
>
> What software do you prefer for this purpose? I have used Kurzweil in the
> past, but it doesn't preserve the integrity of the original documents. I am
> hoping to find a solution that leaves the visual look of the document intact
> but also makes the text accessible.
>
> Tai
>
> Tai Tomasi, J.D.
> Staff Attorney
>
>
>
> 400 East Court Ave., Ste. 300
> Des Moines, Iowa 50309
> Tel: 515-278-2502; Toll Free: 1-800-779-2502
> FAX: 515-278-0539; Relay 711
> E-mail: tomasi at driowa.org
> www.driowa.org
>
> Our Mission:  To defend and promote the human and legal rights of Iowans
> with disabilities
>
> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
>
> This e-mail and any attachments contain information from the law firm of
> Disability Rights Iowa and are intended solely for the use of the named
> recipient(s). This e-mail may contain privileged attorney-client
> communications or work product. Any dissemination by anyone other than an
> intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient, you are
> prohibited from any further viewing of the e-mail or any attachments or from
> making any use of the e-mail or attachments. If you have received this
> e-mail in error, notify the sender immediately and delete the e-mail, any
> attachments, and all copies from any drives or storage media and destroy any
> printouts.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerard
> Sadlier via blindlaw
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 11:52 AM
> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Internal Office Procedure for Making Documents
> Accessible to Screen Readers
>
> Hello,
>
> I receive pdfs and run them through ocr software to make them accessible
> myself. I find it helpful to have pdfs available to me, particularly when I
> need to share them with the other side in litigation. Text files would not
> be appropriate for that purpose.
> Kind regards
>
> Ger
>
> On 1/21/16, Dan Beitz via blindlaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> I OCR PDF documents with omnipage.  It works great because you just go
>> to the document you want to OCR, hit the context menu key, choose
>> omnipage, and the document is converted and automatically given the
>> same name with a different document extension by omnipage.  My
>> paralegal will sometimes convert documents for me with Adobe, but this
>> doesn't work as well.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Daniel K. Beitz
>> Wienner & Gould, P.C.
>> 950 University Dr., Ste. 350
>> Rochester, MI  48307
>> Phone:  (248) 841-9405
>> Fax:  (248) 652-2729
>> dbeitz at wiennergould.com
>>
>> www.wiennergould.com
>>
>> This email transmission and any documents, files or previous email
>> messages attached to it may contain confidential information that is
>> legally privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient or the
>> individual responsible for delivering this email to the intended
>> recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, or
>> distribution or use of any of the information contained herein or
>> attached to this email is strictly prohibited.  Should you receive
>> this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying
>> to the sender of this email or by telephoning us at (248) 841-9400.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tai
>> Tomasi via blindlaw
>> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:40 PM
>> To: DRBA at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>> Cc: Tai Tomasi; Blind Law Mailing List
>> Subject: [blindlaw] Internal Office Procedure for Making Documents
>> Accessible to Screen Readers
>>
>> Hello all. I am blind and just began working as a staff attorney for
>> Disability Rights Iowa. I use the JAWS for Windows screen reader. I am
>> interested to know your internal office protocols for making scanned
>> legal documents accessible to your blind employees who use screen
>> readers. This usually involves some sort of text tagging or OCR
>> (optical character recognition).
>> I envision an office in which all documents are eventually
>> electronically accessible and ultimately searchable by all employees.
>> The PDFs produced by my office scanner/copier are inaccessible,
>> necessitating the extra step of running them through scanning software
>> myself. Blind attorneys, how do you handle this? My employer is very
>> willing to accommodate, but I am not sure what to recommend, given
>> they know little about these advanced technology issues. I would like
>> to correspond off list regarding detailed procedures (i.e. software,
>> hardware, and recommended settings) for remedying this problem, as I
>> need to give them to our copier and tech support companies who know
>> nothing about adaptive technology. My state department for the blind
>> says I need to work directly with the copier company. Your input is
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Tai Tomasi, J.D.
>> Staff Attorney
>>
>> [Description: DR%20IA%20LawCenter]
>>
>> 400 East Court Ave., Ste. 300
>> Des Moines, Iowa 50309
>> Tel: 515-278-2502; Toll Free: 1-800-779-2502
>> FAX: 515-278-0539; Relay 711
>> E-mail: tomasi at driowa.org<mailto:tomasi at driowa.org>
>> www.driowa.org
>>
>> Our Mission:  To defend and promote the human and legal rights of
>> Iowans with disabilities
>>
>> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
>>
>> This e-mail and any attachments contain information from the law firm
>> of Disability Rights Iowa and are intended solely for the use of the
>> named recipient(s). This e-mail may contain privileged attorney-client
>> communications or work product. Any dissemination by anyone other than
>> an intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not a named recipient,
>> you are prohibited from any further viewing of the e-mail or any
>> attachments or from making any use of the e-mail or attachments. If
>> you have received this e-mail in error, notify the sender immediately
>> and delete the e-mail, any attachments, and all copies from any drives
>> or storage media and destroy any printouts.
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindlaw mailing list
>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> blindlaw:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/gerard.sadlier%4
>> 0gmail.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindlaw mailing list
> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindlaw:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/ttomasi%40driowa.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindlaw mailing list
> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindlaw:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/gerard.sadlier%40gmail.com
>