Accommodating Clients who have Low Vision or Blindness

Kim Borowicz

Legal Aid Committee MeetingOctober 17, 2013

Have Documents Available as Plain Text to Convert to Large

Print or Braille• Brief Service documents• Contracts, such as retainer agreements• Demographic forms, such as Income verification

forms• Releases• Informational handouts• Brochures

Plain Text

• Plain text can simply be a document typed in Microsoft Word• Have electronic plain text versions of all

documents available. • Can be read by screen reader software or printed

in Braille

Depends on the Person

• Large Print• Ask what size font they prefer• Or show them documents in different size fonts

• There are different Grades of Braille• May want the documents read to them• Provide a private location to fill out documents

• Can ship free matter for the blind• Must be marked 'Free Matter for the Blind or

Handicapped' in the upper right corner of the address side.

Reasonable Accommodations

• Make sure your office has • A designated staff member to handle reasonable

accommodation requests• A policy on how to provide reasonable

accommodations• A method for clients and training attendees to

request a reasonable accommodation

Reasonable Accommodations

• Law offices (including non-profits) have a duty under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide reasonable accommodations• As long as the client says they need something

done differently because of a physical or mental condition

• Please work to accommodate clients with disabilities rather than simply referring them to disability focused organizations

• Clients might not self identify as having a disability

Fillable Online Forms

Fillable Online Forms

Adaptive Software

• Screen reader software reads the screen to a user who is blind or has low vision• Demohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK97XMibEws

• Assistive software can enlarge any computer screen• Demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P55IVlpSXIg

Website Accessibility: Contrast

Website Accessibility: Image Descriptions

Screen Reader Accessibility Tools

• Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool• http://wave.webaim.org

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines• www.w3c.org/WAI/Resources

• Website Accessibility Assessment• http://www.nablement.com/services/website-

accessibility-assessment/• Equal Access to Software and Information• http://easi.cc/

PDF Accessibility

• Scanned images of text• Tags• Fillable Forms• Alt text on images or hyperlinks• Accessibility Quick Check (6.0 versions of

Adobe)• http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/

accessibility/pdfs/acro6_pg_ue.pdf

Vision/Blindness Organizations• Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind

• http://chicagolighthouse.org/• (312) 666-1331

• Second Sense (formerly the Guild for the Blind)• www.second-sense.org• (312) 236-8569

• National Federation of the Blind• www.nfb.org• (773) 307-6440

• American Council of the Blind• www.acb.org• (800) 424-8666

• Blind Services Association• www.blindserviceassociation.org• (312) 458-9006

I am happy to help!

Kim BorowiczStaff AttorneyAccess Living115 W. Chicago Ave.Chicago, IL 60654(312) 640 2155(312) 640 2169 tty(312) 640 2101 faxkborowicz@accessliving.org