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How to make a PDF form an accessible PDF form
Thread poster: Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:59
English to Spanish
+ ...
Dec 17, 2017

Hi, colleagues,

One of my stalwart clients approached me with a new query: their customer needed to post the Spanish PDF form in accessible format to be compliant with existing laws about accessibility (in the United States). This was a new wrinkle for me, so I dug out some information that a few translators might find useful.
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Hi, colleagues,

One of my stalwart clients approached me with a new query: their customer needed to post the Spanish PDF form in accessible format to be compliant with existing laws about accessibility (in the United States). This was a new wrinkle for me, so I dug out some information that a few translators might find useful.

Here's a brief primer: https://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/

Specifically, I found this explanation useful:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires Federal agencies to make electronic and information technology (E&IT) accessible to users with disabilities, including:

    Blindness, color blindness, visual impairment
    Deafness, hearing impairment
    Speech impairment
    Mobility, strength, dexterity or reach impairment

The law includes standards for software applications, operating systems (OS), web-based applications and multimedia. These standards apply to files made available in the portable document format (PDF). PDF is often used as a way to preserve a document’s look and feel across a wide variety of platforms, as well as to add protection against alterations.

Those involved in the design, distribution and use of PDFs are responsible for ensuring that they comply with Section 508, but it may not always be clear how to do so. (Source: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs)

Basically, an accessible PDF form is a tagged PDF form. The procedure seems pretty simple according to this tutorial: https://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/forms

I have yet to put these steps into practice to make accessible PDF forms, but I have already informed my client about the steps involved and that I would quote an hourly rate.

Feel free to share similar anecdotes or experiences. ▲ Collapse
 


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How to make a PDF form an accessible PDF form






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