Hi

As a librarian responsible for the provision of services for disabled
students, I would just like to comment on this thread on the
accessibility of PDFs provided through a library website.

"waving the DDA at the library" suggests a) that libraries are ignorant
of the DDA and need to be kicked into compliance, and b) that they
themselves are responsible for the content and accessibility of the
sites they host. Neither of these is true. Libraries only act as
conduits for a wide variety of electronic resources.

In the university library where I work we provide electronic services,
both books and journals, from many different sources with widely varying
standards of accessibility. Some of them are wonderful, allowing for
downloads in a variety of formats which are fully accessible for those
using screen readers. Others are provided as image PDFs which aren't at
all usable, or the sites are so locked that little is allowed. I work
closely with our Disability Officers and we regularly contact the
providers of e-resources to point out that their resources are not
accessible and attempt to get text copies. 

It's very frustrating, when so much material is being digitised now,
that the very medium that should be a godsend for vision-impaired
students is often anything but! I feel that we all of us, disability
officers and librarians, need to keep on plugging away at these
providers to make their resources available to everyone. We aren't on
different sides of a divide!

Eileen Nazha
Assistant Librarian
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS


>>> George Bell <[log in to unmask]> 11/02/2009 13:41 >>>
Dare I suggest waving the DDA at the library?  Who knows, you may just
find you get a sympathetic response.

George.

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Parry
Sent: 11 February 2009 13:07
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: freeware screen reader

Hi Arnold,

If Claroread is like TextHelp, you have to point it at a file on your 
hard disk, rather than at a web-based representation of a page in the 
file, so it's back to OCR-ing screenshots. 

btw - I've moved from OU Leeds to Huds Uni now, so that lunch date 
will have to go on hold, though it was years ago so you may not 
remember :)

Mikep




----Original Message----<br/>From: [log in to unmask]<br/>Date: 
Feb 11, 2009 13:00 <br/>To: <[log in to unmask]><br/>Subject:
Re: 
freeware screen reader<br/><br/>Claro Read Plus also has a facility to
read pdf documents (it actually converts them into either readable
html 
or text document). <br/><br/>Arnold Maiden<br/>Assessor & Assistive 
Technology Advisor<br/>Disability Services<br/>Leeds Metropolitan 
University - D109CQ<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>-----Original Message-----
<br/>From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support 
staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike 
Parry<br/>Sent: 11 February 2009 12:58<br/>To: [log in to unmask]
UK<br/>Subject: Re: freeware screen reader<br/><br/>hmmm that's an 
idea, though it would take a while to do a whole book. <br/>Plus if
you 
OCR'rd a screen shot, you'd have to find a way of excluding <br/>the 
large amounts of peripheral information on the page. But it might 
<br/>be the only way..<br/><br/>Mikep<br/><br/><br/>----Original 
Message----<br/>From: [log in to unmask]<br/>Date: <br/>Feb 11, 
2009 12:49 <br/>To: <[log in to unmask]><br/>Subject: Re: 
<br/>freeware screen reader<br/><br/>Hi,<br/><br/>If you have texthelp
read <br/>& write gold 8.1 (note point 1) it has a<br/>screen shot 
reader. It <br/>basically takes a screen shoot image then OCRs<br/>the
content. <br/>see http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=1275 or 
abbyy<br/>screen <br/>shot http://screenshotreader.abbyy.com/  (it as
a 
free trial)<br/><br/><br/>hope this 
hel
ps<br/><br/>Andy<br/><br/><br/>The University of <br/>Dundee is a 
registered Scottish charity, No: SC015096<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>To 
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