Am I the only one to think that paying $2,000 per form is not cost
efficient?
I applaud the effort to ensure that tax forms are accessible to all.
I'm just wondering if the cost to convert the forms to straight html was
considered. It seems that it would be cheaper and easier to change the
html as the forms change.
Joy Gatewood Fulton
Senior Systems Developer
Altarum
www.altarum.org
703-914-5105
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David Poehlman
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08/30/02 08:59 AM
Please respond to
David Poehlman
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Poehlman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "wai-ig list" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 8:43 AM
Subject: Fw: washingtonpost.com 'Talking' Tax Forms For Blind
Developed.htm
washingtonpost.com: 'Talking' Tax Forms For Blind Developed
washingtonpost.com
'Talking' Tax Forms For Blind Developed
PDF-Reading Software Boosts Independence
By Helen Rumbelow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 30, 2002; Page A21
A significant advance in the independence and privacy of blind people
has come from what many might think an unlikely source -- the Internal
Revenue Service.
When blind people complain about their tax return, it is not for the
usual reasons. Until now, most federal forms and many reports posted on
the Internet -- a growing line of communication between the government
and its citizens -- have been out of bounds to the country's 14 million
visually impaired.
A Braille version doesn't work because the sighted people receiving the
form cannot understand it. "Screen-reading" software that reads text out
loud cannot cope with forms and other reports using "PDF" -- Portable
Document Format. The screen-reader can't read PDF because it views the
screen as a picture rather than words.
This has frustrated visually impaired people who have wanted to take
advantage of government online services, from applying for jobs to
researching a homework project.
The new IRS forms, which the IRS plans to post on its Web site
(www.IRS.gov) next year, use pioneering software that allows the
standard talking text services to read forms stored in PDF.
"It may seem like just a tax form, but we've hit what we believe is a
true breakthrough, important because blind people want to be
independent," said Michael Moore, chief of alternative media at the IRS,
and legally blind himself. "What blind people are striving for is equal
access."
The software was developed by Plexus Scientific Corp. in conjunction
with the agency. The IRS is demonstrating the "talking tax form" next
week to other agencies that are also grappling with the problem of
making their online services accessible to the visually impaired.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which went into effect in June
last year, requires all federal agencies to make their systems, Web
sites and documents accessible to those with disabilities. A recent
survey by San Francisco State University and PricewaterhouseCoopers
found that 87 percent of federal Web sites still fail to meet
accessibility standards required by law.
Moore recently showed how the program works. When he clicks on the
"talking" version of the1040EZ tax form on the IRS Web site, his normal
screen-reader begins to read the first line in its electronic monotone.
"First name," it says, and Moore responds by typing in the box; he also
has the option of speaking his name and having the computer convert it
into text.
"Some people are surprised that there isn't already a way for blind
people to use these forms, but it's finally happened," Moore said.
"We're the first doing this in government; as far as I know, the first
in the world to be able to make PDF forms accessible."
Curtis Chong, director of technology for the National Federation of the
Blind, said PDF has been a pet-hate of many blind people for years.
"When forms started to go up online, we got really excited, but when we
went to look at them on places like the IRS Web site, we found we
couldn't use them," Chong said. "If this does what it promises then
there is some real groundbreaking potential here. It's not just about
saving the money for an accountant, but privacy and independence and
getting access to information."
The problem of computer accessibility is also important to the IRS,
Moore said, because it has actively recruited blind workers. The agency
has 1,100 employees who are blind or have low vision, 1 percent of its
workforce.
Soon after Section 508 came into effect, the IRS asked Plexus Scientific
to try and crack the problem of PDF. The project cost around $1 million,
with much of the funds contributed by Adobe Systems Inc., the makers of
PDF.
Doug Wakefield, in charge of Section 508 at the federal Access Board,
said this new software is "crucial" to making government more
accessible.
"This will have a very significant impact . . . There have been other
attempts to make PDF forms accessible, but they haven't been taken up
because they have been too expensive," he said.
The IRS hopes to have 50 of the most common forms in "talking" format
for next tax season. It will cost the agency a one-time payment of about
$2,000 per form for Plexus to convert them.
Leonard Newman, project manager at Plexus Scientific, said the problem
with PDF was that even when the screen-reader was persuaded to read the
text, it read it as a jumble, mixing up text with no sense of the flow
of the form. By putting special computer tags in the form, Plexus was
able to create a kind of road map for the screen-reader, instructing it
where to pause to allow the blind person to fill in his or her details,
and telling it which box followed next.
"The joke here is that it is the first time you want the IRS talking to
you," Newman said.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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