This is a reprint of the article posted in the May Edition of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin, which remains largely inaccessible to screen readers. It is reprinted with permission of the authors.

By Leonard Duboff and Lisa Ferris

Although technology has changed the world for everyone in the last several decades, it has been nothing short of revolutionary for people with vision loss. The personal computer, along with the digitization of data and the world wide web, have arguably had more of an impact on living conditions for the blind than the advent of braille or the development of guide dog training.

The exponential growth of technology during the last decade has literally changed what it means to be blind. The print world—books, newspapers, mail, street signs, restaurant menus, bank statements, medical records, legal documents, the list is endless—is now playing live in our earphones and at our fingertips.

The authors of this article know this firsthand. When he was 22, Leonard was seriously wounded in an explosion that left him blind and unable to read braille. He uses Alexa, a reading machine and a computer that can read him his email.

Lisa is Deafblind and uses a combination of a screen reader and a digital braille display to use the computer. The screen reader converts the words on the screen into an audible voice, and then her braille display converts that voice into a series of rising and falling tactile pins that she reads with her fingers.

Not that long ago, we had to depend on volunteer readers and charity libraries to access print information. This was time consuming and inefficient. It created an information famine where print information trickled to us. There were often long waitlists for books and magazines, and we had to rely on the kindness and schedules of others to help read our mail and fill out forms. This severely limited our choices and access to large chunks of information.

The consequences of this inefficiency were sometimes dire for the blind and visually impaired. We lagged behind in knowledge and lost networking opportunities because we were not able to discuss the latest news story or best-selling book. We lost job opportunities because we could not stay on top of required reading and documentation as fast as our colleagues.

We lost all confidentiality with respect to our medical, legal and financial records. We signed legal documents we couldn’t read when there was no help available. We had to trust frenzied counter employees to fill out important forms and hope that they did it correctly. We missed important deadlines we didn’t know about because readers were not available in a timely fashion to read us the printed deadlines on important pieces of mail.

Lisa’s business partner had a several-year legal odyssey that cost him thousands of dollars because of a mistake on some immigration papers. Without his knowledge, a clerk spelled his name with an extra “t” that made his residency papers mismatch his passport.

Another person Lisa knows got into legal trouble because of a bank error that put his child support payments in the wrong account. He did not have access to the bank statements until months after they were issued.

Now, through accessible digital technology, the blind, deafblind and visually impaired have the potential to access everything in real time, independently and without having their options filtered through others.

With services like “My Chart” for medical records and online banking, we now have independent, 24-hour access to our own confidential information. Online fillable forms and legal digital form services like “DocuSign” allow us to ensure the accuracy of our information and to read and fully understand the legal documents that we sign. When the world of paper is made digitally accessible, we gain access to the same civil rights as others have come to expect for themselves.

However, this technology is available only when organizations prioritize accessibility and convert paperwork and digital materials to accessible formats. The legal field is, unfortunately, lagging in its adoption of accessibility standards.

For example, the Oregon Department of Justice still does a large portion of its work via paper forms and mailed letters. Many attorneys expect blind people to sign wills, contracts, deeds, custody and divorce papers and other documents that they have never read and can never refer to.

Digitizing print is not enough. Digitization has to be done in a way that meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) so that screen-reading software can process the information.

Here, too, the legal field is behind. For instance, the archives of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin are in a format that essentially turns the written word into a picture that our software cannot access. Ironically, this article will not be accessible to those who are blind, deafblind, or have other reading disabilities. But then they aren’t the ones who need to read this – you are.

Lawyers and other members of the legal profession should be sure that the written word is presented as text or as a readable pdf, not a scanned image. Forms cannot simply be scanned and attached to an email, but need to be made into either accessible fillable pdfs or web-based html forms.

WCAG may may take a bit of a learning curve to get used to, but these guidelines are not difficult or expensive to implement. Resources for web and app designers to learn the standards are free and readily available online, and after some study, these standards will soon become second nature. Consultants are also available to assist with accessibility.

When incorporated and prioritized throughout all stages of a project (rather than as an afterthought), universally accessible websites do not cost any more money to make and take no more time to develop than any other website. Besides, it’s the law in many jurisdictions.

Lawsuits relating to website accessibility have sharply increased. A number of courts have held that websites and web-based services are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Other courts have, however, held that they are subject to the ADA only when there is a connection, or nexus, between the website and a brick-and-mortar location.

Advocacy groups like the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and National Federation of the Blind (NFB) continue to pass resolutions and work on stronger, more specific legislation that will require accessible digital media to be made available as a reasonable accommodation to print media and paperwork, and that all digital media be accessible to people with disabilities.

Like nearly all accommodations for people with disabilities, WCAG guidelines benefit everyone, not just the disabled. Digital forms mean that clerks are free from having to enter handwritten data and guess at illegible handwriting that may cause errors and delays. Digital legal forms mean that signatures can procured and documents distributed in minutes rather than days. Less paper waste benefits the environment and saves money.

Accessible websites and apps are neater and more organized for web and app designers and developers. They are more easily searched and accessed by search engines and are easier to modify. Universal Design benefits all. There is no downside. It just takes commitment.

So, Oregon attorneys, will you take the lead? Will you commit to making your media, services and other activities accessible to all of the print disabled lawyers, paralegals, law professors and law students out there? Will you promote digital accessibility as a best practice standard for all the Oregon State Bar and all its members?

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Three steps to get you started:

1. Perform an “accessibility assessment” to determine how compliant your organization is with ADA and other applicable laws. There are online tools, as well as consultants, available to help with this.
2. Create a plan to bring your policies and environment up to code. Make sure in the future, digital accessibility is prioritized from the start of everything you do.
3. Test your digital presence and digital processes (i.e., online intake forms and legal documents) with actual people with disabilities who use assistive technology. Don’t assume that you won’t ever deal with a disabled client; it could be that you haven’t in the past because of your organization’s inaccessibility.

A good website to help you get started is www.w3.org/WAI/

See also: https://www.biggerlawfirm.com/digital-accessibility-for-law-firms/

Leonard DuBoff is author of more than 30 books on business and intellectual property law. He has also written numerous scholarly articles and he is a frequent contributor to this publication as well. He was a law professor for almost a quarter of a century, first teaching at Stanford Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School and the Hastings College of Civil Advocacy. He is pioneer of the field of art law. He is the managing principal of the DuBoff Law Group, PC which focuses on complex business and intellectual property.

Lisa Ferris, with partner Niklas Petersson, founded Miles Access Skills Training (MAST), which teaches and promotes the use of technology and alternative skills to people with disabilities, as well as consulting with organizations that want to become more accessible. They are Deafblind and blind, respectively, which they feel is an asset in their line of work. When not working, they enjoy spending time outdoors with their guide dogs and 3 children. Find more information about MAST at blindmast.com.