[accessibility] Fwd: [program-l] Acrobat / PDF accessibility

[Jonathan Fine]

Hi

Cory Samaha on the visually impaired programmers list has asked for help
with PDF remediation, where the PDF contains form fields. Can anyone on
this list help?

Any replies sent here or directly to me, I'll forward on. Or you can reply
directly yourself by subscribing to the list:
https://www.freelists.org/post/program-l/Acrobat-PDF-accessibility

with best regards

Jonathan


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Cory Samaha
Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 3:12 PM
Subject: [program-l] Acrobat / PDF accessibility
To: <program-l at freelists.org>


Hello Everyone,

I realize I am really stretching the limits of the term “programming” in
this particular message. If there is a better email list on which to ask
this please point me to any resource that might help.

I have been tasked with making some PDF files accessible (PDF remediation).
Many of these PDF files contain form fields that need to be editable. In
addition to edit fields, some forms require checkboxes, radio buttons and
so on. Unfortunately, when trying to add interactive form fields in
Acrobat, the defacto tool for inserting these form fields, there seems to
be no keyboard support what soever. The process to add form fields usually
requires dragging the form field where you want it before you can give it a
name. And that’s not even including the tagging process to make sure the
form fields appear in the correct order for a screen reader while tabbing
through the form. The tags panel in Acrobat has a number of issues as well.
So, I guess I’m wondering if someone who is blind is able to create PDF
files with fillable form fields? Is there perhaps a third party app which
might be accessible and will tag the form fields? Before I start working on
any scripts to possibly make this
  more accessible I wanted to get feedback to make sure I’m not reinventing
the wheel. Again, my sincereist apologies if this doesn’t exactly fall into
the programming category. I’m not sure where else to turn, though. I have
submitted bug reports with Adobe with numerous accessibility issues and
they have yet to address these concerns. Any resources, whether it’s a
better email list I can ask these questions or a full blown solution would
be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Cory
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