New to Accessibility and have run into problems I can't seem to find answers to.

Question

At my job I've been trying to learn how to make files accessible for a client. I've watched many videos and scoured forums but there are some issues and can't seem to resolve and was wondering if anyone would be able to assist.
1.Table tagging- all the information I've been able to find on this suggests that you create a table style for your table in indesign and apply it (it doesn't have to have anything in it really, just as long as there is a style applied?). Then make sure you have header row that is tagged as such. I've got that, but beyond that I can't find any more information. I was having to apply paragraph styles to each cell in the table to get it to pass the accessiblity checker in acrobat.
2. Forms- When it comes to tagging forms in my pdf, I was having to click on "find" under the tags panel and manually tag them, then manually move them to their correct locations. Is there a better way to do this? Also, I was hoping I could copy and paste forms from one document to the next but I lose all tags on those forms when I do that.
3. I have a lot of documents where I have "*" or "†" used next to a word to trigger a legal disclosure at the bottom of the document. Would the proper way to use these be to make them a hyperlink to the disclosures at the bottom? I was initially going to cross-reference them to the disclosures, but since the cross-reference places new text (ex, See below, or See Section Title), I would then have to re-submit all my text to legal to have them approve it all over again.
4. I have created metadata information for a logo used in my files but I notice it has the tag name "pathpathpathpathpath". Any clue why?
5. Sometimes words are broken into two or three tags instead of one fluid word tag, such as c or poration, instead of just corporation.
6. Everytime I run the accessiblity checker I get the notification that "tab order failed". I know I can right click and hit fix, is that ok?
7. I sometimes have empty tags where a space is, do I need to delete these?
8. I can't seem to get the whole document to read aloud to test it. I can get it to read the copy I've selected but I can't really test the reading order on this.
Sorry for all these questions!

Answer 1

1. I am not an Indesign user, so I cannot help you there. Table tagging in Acrobat can be complex, especially if the table is not regular (same number of cells in every row). Please post any specific questions regarding table tagging.
2. I do not know of an easier way of tagging form fields. With practice, it is not too burdensome. After all the work of creating, positioning, and configuring the form fields, I find tagging the fields to be the easiest step.
3. I would tag the  "*" or "†" as an in-line Reference, tag the disclosure as a Note, then position the Note as close as practical to the Reference in the document structure without disrupting the reading flow. Usually this is right after the paragraph that includes the Reference.
4. This is normal. “path” is the word Acrobat uses for a some graphical elements. If the metadata is alt text you will find it in the tag properties.
5. I would retag the paragraph (or header, or whatever it is) using the Touchup Reading Order tool.
6. In the Acrobat Page Thumbnails pane, select all the pages then right-click, Page Properties, and select Use Document Structure on the Tab Order pane.
7. The tags are probably not empty, but rather contain the space character. These do not seem to cause any problems but to me they clutter up the tag tree so I tag the spaces as background artifacts.
8. An easier way to check the reading order is to use a tool that lets you see the document in the way an AT user would hear it. PDFgoHTML from Callas Software (http://www.callassoftware.com/callas/doku.php/en:products:pdfgohtml), and the screen-reader preview feature in PAC 1.3 (http://www.access-for-all.ch/en/pdf-lab/pdf-accessibility-checker-pac/dl132.html) are my favorites.
Hope some of this helps. Please post any follow-up questions (for best results – one at a time with as much detail as practical on the problem :-) ).
a 'C' student