Re: Question about proper use of screen readers in 508 testing

When we went through the Trusted Tester certificate program, which the 
federal Office of Accessible Systems & Technology stood up in direct 
response to Section 508 compliance, the instruction began with a strong 
"vendor neutral" position regarding screen readers. Not one of their 81 
specific test criteria mentioned the use of any screen reader, and by 
design.  Furthermore, they made a clear distinction between 
accessibility and usability.  Screen readers are integral to usability 
testing, which the Trusted Tester folks said is by design not part of 
their program.

Do we nonetheless use screen readers as part of our accessibility 
services?  Of course we do.  Do we mention screen readers in our Letter 
of Reasonable Accessibility to a federal customer? Never.

Cheers,
Peter Shikli
Access2online Inc.
www.access2online.com


Patrick H. Lauke wrote on 7/24/2020 10:43 AM:
> On 24/07/2020 17:36, Mike Cleary wrote:
>> But I also didn’t know that expand/collapse widgets that don’t have 
>> the role of “button” or “link” are WCAG non-conformances.
>
> Yes, for this part, interactive widgets (that are not just static 
> text) need to programmatically convey their role. 
> https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#name-role-value
>
>> Some here take a hard line on “button button” because it was found as 
>> part of 508 testing, and 508 compliance is a contractual obligation, 
>> so that’s that. I disagree about that, but I don’t really have the 
>> authority when it comes to accessibility; they do.
>
>
> This, however, is the part where I think most of us here disagree on 
> their take. It is *not* an actual failure of WCAG, I'd say. So not a 
> failure in light of 508 either. They're going beyond what the standard 
> says and saying it fails the standard...but yeh, if there's no actual 
> conversation to be had with them about it, then you're probably stuck 
> with following their (misguided) interpretation.
>
> P

Received on Friday, 24 July 2020 18:04:59 UTC