Re: question regarding printed PDF documents

Hello,

WCAG deals with Web Content, not paper, so an accurate but unhelpful answer 
is "no, WCAG doesn't talk about signing things on paper". I think a more 
accurate and helpful answer is "yes, you need to do something here to 
provide an accessible service".

If the Docusign process is accessible, then you have provided an accessible 
way to sign the online document. If it isn't, then I think you have failed 
to make the same functionality available, and so fail WCAG.

The answer is not to remove the Docusign option to make things bad for 
everyone, because the functionality is still only available to those who 
can print and sign. For people with significant visual impairment, printing 
a document and physically signing it is not a readily accessible process.

You are presumably aware that, just as people have long used a rubber stamp 
of their signature, there are people who will just paste an image of a 
signature into the space, and email it to you. Again, that's likely to be a 
process with accessibility challenges.

In the case of my personal banking, I log in, and I have both a "private" 
key (a phrase I choose, where the system asks for a random subset of the 
elements, say the 4th, 7th, etc.), and a second-factor which can for 
example use an application on my phone (similar to the 3D-secure process 
for paying by credit card), an SMS, or some other verification that it was 
me who signed in and wants to authorise e.g. a large transfer to another 
account. I have other accounts online that allow me to incur an obligation 
in similar ways. The flexibility of this system makes it easier to remove 
accessibility barriers or provide alternate accessible pathways for those 
who want them. Importantly, the bank doesn't ask me why I want a particular 
method, it just makes a range of them available, which can also mitigate 
potential privacy issues.

For things that don't imply a formal commitment, the process is simpler, 
because a signature isn't meaningful.

Perhaps you should talk to the legal people at the Credit Union and ask 
them what they actually do in practice in other cases and whether those 
would stand up to legal scrutiny, and then think about how to implement 
something to provide the necessary options.

cheers

Chaals

On Monday, January 15, 2024 22:37:35 (+01:00), Deborah Dinzes wrote:

 > Hello,
 > 
 > We have a question regarding printing PDF documents. We currently 
publish PDF forms, which people can download and fill out electronically. 
They then have to print the form, sign it, and send it to us (or fax it or 
scan and email it). They have the option of completing the form 
electronically in DocuSign, electronically signing the document, and 
submitting it electronically.
 > 
 > It's been asserted that printing the form and signing it makes it 
inherently inaccessible to some users. Our credit union requires us to meet 
the WCAG 2.0 standard for our website, and as our PDFs are published there, 
we are making sure they are also WCAG - compliant. Is there anything in 
WCAG that states that printing and signing a PDF document is a violation of 
WCAG or ADA requirements?
 > 
 > The signature area on the PDF is currently blank - no form field, just a 
box to sign in - because we cannot accept digital PDF signatures as they 
are not verified. We currently add expansion text to the "Signature" label 
that reads out loud: "Borrower's Signature. Please print, sign, and submit 
this form by email, fax, or mail."  This contact information is provided on 
the form.
 > 
 > Thank you for your advice.
 > 
 > Deborah Dinzes
 > 
 > 
 >  <https://becu.org/>
 > 
 > Deborah Dinzes
 > Sr Technical Writer, Knowledge Management
 > Offsite |
 > Our 
vision<https://becu1.sharepoint.com/sites/km/SitePages/_KM-at-BECU.aspx> is 
a BECU community empowered with the information they need, when they need 
it.
 > 
 > 
 > Please consider the environment before printing this email.
 > 
 > 
 > 
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-- 
Chaals Nevile
Using Fastmail - it's worth it

Received on Monday, 15 January 2024 22:29:26 UTC