Re: Test Management Tools - Accessibility Guidelines

Thank you all for your great feedback - you gave me the answer I was hoping
to get! I have some good reasons to push for ensuring all our products are
accessibility friendly regardless of time scales etc. Much appreciated Joe,
Morten and Deborah :) What a great mailing list this is ...

Morten, on a different note, I would be very interested in discussing the
tools you use on a daily basis so i can get a further understanding of the
tools available to the general public. I won't lie, 25 years in programming
when reliant on accessible tools is rather impressive.

Thanks.


On 29 June 2012 14:49, <deborah.kaplan@suberic.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 29 Jun 2012, Samantha Bird wrote:
>
>> I wanted to get a few opinions as to if a testing tool would need to be
>> Accessible or would this be unnecessary work?
>>
>
> Samantha,
>
> Here are some questions to ask people at your office who are
> arguing against making the testing tool accessible.
>
> Do you believe, either legally or ethically or simply because of
> sound business practice, that software that is used in places
> of business should be accessible to all employees? Is your
> employer a large enough company to be governed by the ADA's
> regulations itself? Would your company ever be delivering
> services to companies which are bound by regulations which
> require all contracted firms to follow ADA or similar guidelines?
> Are you positive that the perfect employee is not waiting right
> around the corner, who happens to be somebody who relies on JAWS
> or ZoomText or NaturallySpeaking to interact with computers?
> Have all of the current employees of your employer been granted a
> dispensation from the universe promising that none of you will
> ever get a mobility or vision disability?
>
> Accessibility testing tools are business software just like
> Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, and the exact same constraints
> apply as to why these tools should be accessible. In fact, the
> constraints are even more relevant than for normal software,
> because the accessibility testing and programming community
> disproportionately represents professionals with disabilities.
> It's actually extremely likely that the perfect employee for your
> next corporate opening is right around the corner, and happens to
> be somebody who relies on JAWS or ZoomText or NaturallySpeaking to
> do her work.
>
> Besides which, you guys are obviously experts who know how to do
> it right. You might as well. :-)
>
> -Deborah Kaplan
> Accessibility Team Colead
> Dreamwidth Studios LLC
>