Law, Health Policy & Disability Center Bulletin Board: 'Talking' Tax Forms Developed

'Talking' Tax Forms Developed; PDF-Reading Software Boosts Independence for People Who Are Blind
In the August 30, 2002, edition of The Washington Post, staff writer Helen Rumbelow
reports on the development of “talking” tax forms for people who are blind. Until now, most federal forms and many reports posted on the Internet have been inaccessible to the 14 million persons who are visually impaired. Rumbelow notes that “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. 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.”
c 2002 The Washington Post Company

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