Re: Capabilities vs Outcomes

I am leaning towards Janina's reasoning. However, perhaps the adjustment
can be introduced in the introduction/preface of the document. Drive home
both the meaning and objective.

-Mike

Mike Paciello
Chief Accessibility Officer
michael.paciello@audioeye.com
+1.603.484.1938

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On Thu, Jul 3, 2025 at 8:56 AM Janina Sajka <janina@rednote.net> wrote:

> Hi Lionel, All:
>
> My quick, off the top of my head, initial response is "No" because:
>
> *       It is very late in the process and every occurance would need to
> *       be hand reviewed for skewed meaning. Think another multiweek
> *       delay when I'm getting ready to be on vacation for two weeks
> *       late July.
>
> *       WCAG uses the same term but with arguably a different meaning.
> *       Even if we align that we're using "outcome" with the same
> *       meaning as WCAG, we'd forever be explaining ourselves about
> *       that.
>
> *       The syntactical/grammatical meaning shifts with this edit in
> *       ways that give me pause. I can't take the time to explain this
> *       just now as I have a call, but it's significant and should be
> *       very carefully considered. This is actually my biggest reason
> *       for no. Short version is meaning shifts to a result we claim
> *       rather than a technology we supply.
>
> Best,
> Janina
>
> Lionel Wolberger writes:
> > Hi Community Group,
> >
> > During our last telecon, we discussed a potentially meaningful shift:
> replacing the term ?capabilities? with ?outcomes? throughout the document.
> >
> > This adjustment would align us more closely with current accessibility
> frameworks?particularly WCAG?which emphasize user-centered design and
> real-world results. While ?capabilities? suggests potential, ?outcomes?
> speaks directly to what is achieved and experienced by users. This framing
> may better support our goals and the practical needs of the market.
> >
> > That said, this would be a significant terminological change at a late
> stage in the publishing cycle.
> >
> > I'd like a quick temperature check: are folks open to even considering
> making this shift?
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Lionel Wolberger, Ph.D.
> > VP Business Operations
> > Level Access
> > https://levelaccess.com
> > https://userway.org
>
> --
>
> Janina Sajka (she/her/hers)
> Accessibility Consultant https://linkedin.com/in/jsajka
>
> The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> Co-Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures     http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
>
> Linux Foundation Fellow
> https://www.linuxfoundation.org/board-of-directors-2/
>
>
>

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