Robert Jaquiss and T.V. Raman have carried on what is, for this
forum, a lively discussion respecting the impact and problem
potential to the blind of documents in PDF format. Mr. Raman
contends that loss of structural information apparently inherent
in translation of documents from PDF format to any other accessible
by the blind currently is of vital concern to the blind and
constitutes a problem requiring more-or-less immediate action.
Although I will readily admit my lack of knowledge in this area,
I am not yet persuaded that structural information is as vital
to understanding of documents as Mr. Raman believes it to be.
I could be disastrously wrong, however.
This discussion moves me to wonder, though, why we do not seem
to be concerned about the seeming lack of ability of current
screen-reading software/hardware for the Windows environment to
present to the blind user an accurate picture of what the
sighted viewer actually sees on the screen. I get the distinct
impression that few, if any, designers of screen-reading technology
for Windows have even considered that such information might be
useful, let alone attempted to solve the problem. I also get
the impression that many blind persons seem to be satisfied
with the "to-do list" approach of translation of the windows
environment to something with which the blind can interact.
I am moved to wonder if, especially for a programmer in the
Windows environment, we can and should be satisfied with this
approach.
Just one person's musings.
Mike Freeman
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