[blindlaw] Accessibility of Document Management Software

[Susan Kelly]

My office (county public defender) just started using JustWare,
manufactured by New Dawn Technologies, a couple of months ago.  It has
been a nightmare even for those not needing accessibility programs
because by its very nature, it requires a minimum of 3 to 5 extra steps
to do anything in the e-file.  I use JAWS & MAGic, and a co-worker who
is paralyzed uses Dragon; because of the need to determine how the
programs would respond with our AT software, we were not even trained
with the rest of the office as to the use of JustWare.  The trainings
for the others took over two weeks of 3-hour daily sessions, and
continuing refreshers to deal with problems that seem to be encountered
on a nearly daily basis.  To be fair, I do not think that our office
purchased the entire package, and our network itself has likely caused
many of the program errors that the rest of the office is enduring.

When our office was originally searching for a program, my direct
supervisor made sure to question all product reps as to the
accessibility of their programs, including whether it had been tested
with specific accessibility software, whether it could be adapted in
terms of visual layout, etc.  Not one company had any idea about what
she was referring to, and when pushed, simply stated that because the
programs were internet based, they "must" be accessible.

On the bright side, we are slowly finding commands and work-arounds that
should eventually allow me to use JustWare.  It is very frustrating, and
some of the problems seem to revolve around the "mixed media" (for lack
of a better description) nature of the program.  It is internet-based,
but many of the pages are more like a Word document, while others are
like a virtual internet document.  This means that certain commands will
work in one area of the program, not others, and there is no clear way
to determine which is which other than working through them and
memorizing the peculiarities of each.  Moreover, what works one hour may
not work the next - and there are certain sections (like the Case Notes)
which will not permit me any access (other than visual, which is almost
impossible) to edit.  Rather, I have to type my notes in Word, and then
copy them over to the appropriate section.  Long story short, it is
painfully slow and inefficient.  We are compiling a "cheat sheet" of
JAWS navigation commands that work with each section, so if your office
ends up with this monster, I will be happy to send it a copy.  

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Gerard Sadlier
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 8:53 AM
To: blindlaw
Cc: BCAB Discussion List
Subject: [blindlaw] Accessibility of Document Management Software

DEar all,

My firm uses an electronic document management system. I have a
meeting with them next week to discuss accessibility issues and to
test it out.

I wondered:
1 What experiences listers have had with such systems,
2 Any accessibility issues which have come up,
3 Any solutions that listers have employed and
4 Any questions which I should ask.

As many of you may know, I use jaws.

Best Ger



-- 
Best wishes

Gerard Sadlier

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