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

Luis Mendez lmendez716 at gmail.com
Fri Jan 22 16:55:25 UTC 2016 

Excellent discussion.  I was fortunate to have worked with a paralegal who mastered the ability to produce a high quality OCR document with Adobe Pro.  This is not just a reasonable accommodation.  Producing a well structured OCR document makes it searchable and thus is an indispenbbsable aspect of sound document management-a must in a well run and competitive legal environment. 

I would second those who have pointed out the utility of having high quality OCR software at hand, such as Omnipage or Fine Reader. Also, the KNFB. Reader can be quite useful in converting emailed PDF and other documents in inaccessible formats.  Once you convert them safe the documents to Drop Box and import them into your hardware of choice. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Jan 21, 2016, at 1:34 PM, Tai Tomasi via blindlaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I do have KNFB Reader for iPhone, but find it insufficient for batch scanning large volumes of material. It is not as thorough as other scanning solutions. My impression is that it is  meant more for accessing documents when one does not have access to a stand-alone scanner. I am using a Fujitsu FI-6220 which has an automatic document feeder. My issue is that a paralegal is willing to scan materials for me using the company's copier/scanner. She has attempted to do so, but the PDF scans that result are inaccessible. I then have to run them through OCR using Kurzweil 1000 which doesn't preserve the visual integrity of the document. At that point, I might as well do the initial scans myself, rather than taking up the paralegal's time. Of course, I am willing to do this for myself, but I am looking for suggestions so that the paralegal's initial scan can be useful for myself as a blind user and for everyone in the office as a searchable PDF with all visual elements intact. I hope this makes some sense.
> 
> 
> 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
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> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Shannon via blindlaw
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:23 PM
> To: 'Blind Law Mailing List' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Shannon <sbg at sbgaal.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Internal Office Procedure for Making Documents Accessible to Screen Readers
> 
> What OCR software do you use?  Is KNFB reader an available program for a windows based operating system?
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Shannon Brady Geihsler
> 
> Law Office of Shannon Brady Geihsler, PLLC
> 1001 Main St., Suite 803
> Lubbock, Texas 79401
> Office:  (806) 763-3999
> Mobile:  (806) 781-9296
> Fax:  (806) 749-3752
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> -----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
> Cc: Gerard Sadlier
> 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 
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>> 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.
>> 
>> 
>> 
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