[blindLaw] Tackling Inaccessible Government PDF Forms: Employer Accommodations vs. Seeking Assistance from Responsible Government Agency

[Michal Nowicki]

Hi Nikki,

Thank you so much for these thoughtful insights. Staff availability to help in a timely manner could indeed be very much a hit or miss.

Best,

Michal

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Nikki Singh via BlindLaw
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2024 1:00 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Nikki Singh <nikki.singh at aya.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] Tackling Inaccessible Government PDF Forms: Employer Accommodations vs. Seeking Assistance from Responsible Government Agency

Hi! I think either could work out fine. You are also thinking about the right ideas. I like the internal rout because it is generally more efficient, especially if you have access to a reader. I am not sure that a live human is available at an agency to provide assistance in a timely manner. Note that I have a lot of time-sensitive work, so getting things done fast is a premium for me. That includes filling out necessary government forms/online series of fillable screens.



Using an agency rep can definitely open more questions about maintaining client confidentiality. Since the information is going to be disclosed to a third party anyway, due to the form going to whatever ultimate destination at the agency, you have to consider if the initial time spent with an agency rep to fill in the form actually divulges truly confidential or privileged information that belongs to your client. For instance, your completing an authorized rep form will pretty much give away the fact that you are XYZ person’s attorney. Does taking the help of an agency rep at the pre-submission stage present any disclosure issues that would not become moot by the time you submit the authorized rep form? I am not sure what your engagement letters look like, but clients should understand that their expectations of confidentiality and privilege have to be reasonable yet flexible enough for the type of advocacy agreed to. That does not mean that you do not take measures to safeguard privileged or confidential information. Forms, by their nature, will disclose information to someone else; any client should appreciate that.



The one caveat is the nature of your practice. I know those in national security or tax or M&A, for example, do have to think about disclosure beyond the vanilla privileged and confidential categories. You should know if there are practice-specific professional rules or disclosure statutes that you should follow. Maybe for those, you may need consent and/or a waiver from the client or else use internal solutions.



Sincerely,

Nikki

On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 4:56 PM Michal Nowicki via BlindLaw < blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Greetings,
>
>
>
> I may have mentioned in a previous thread on this list regarding 
> inaccessible government forms that nearly all PDF forms I have 
> encountered on state public utility commission (PUC) websites are not 
> sufficiently accessible for me to fill out on my own. These forms 
> range from simple filings like telephone company name change or 
> authorized representative designation forms, to registration forms to 
> provide telecom services in a state, or applications for related 
> licenses. Almost all of these forms, even if fillable electronically, 
> are not properly labeled for screen readers.
> Thus far, when I have been asked to fill out such forms from clients, 
> I have been generally relying on the assistance of support staff at my 
> firm; occasionally, I've been able to hand off the assignment to 
> another attorney in exchange for other work.
>
>
>
> Have any of you in this situation sought assistance from the 
> responsible government agency instead of, or in addition to, 
> requesting internal support? For example, have you contacted the 
> government agency explaining the access barriers and tried to schedule 
> a call to fill out the form over the phone with the help of an agency 
> representative? If so, I would love to hear how doing so turned out for you.
>
>
>
> I would also appreciate your input on the potential ethical 
> implications of this approach. For example, before asking a state PUC 
> to help me fill out a form for a client, would I need to obtain the 
> client's informed consent in order not to violate my professional duty of confidentiality?
>
>
>
> I am exploring the potential viability of the government agency 
> assistance approach because if permissible and effective, it might 
> speed up long overdue accessibility improvements to these forms. That 
> is, each time the issue is brought to an agency's attention, the need 
> to make these forms accessible is reinforced and communicated to the agency.
>
>
>
> Thank you in advance for your observations and recommendations.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Michal Nowicki
>
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