[Diabetes-talk] Accessibility questions, help needed

Fri Jul 20 07:00:54 UTC 2012

Julie,

Knowing more specifics about your situation, I can definitely understand
your frustration. My mom has done WW through the years as well as others
I have known, and they typically had great results when following the
program. It would be nice for people using adaptive software to be able
to experience the same results without barriers to the program and
website.

Perhaps someone on this list, or some Federationist with the computer
understanding, can investigate the specific area of the website you
refer to and see what can be done. There may be a simple fix, or maybe a
way in which to navigate the pages you need that take a little
creativity. Perhaps if enough people contact WW headquarters, they will
get the message and update their website to be more compatible with
adaptive software.

If you have in deed been told they will not provide alternative formats
for info, well this is an entirely different ball game, sister,
warranting some more intense action on your part and perhaps the
Federation, though this is not my place to say. I'm not sure of all the
legality, but it seems a bit discriminatory to outright refuse you
alternative formats to WW when you're a paying client. Is there a
comprehensive print doc that can be scanned and referred to via a
computer? Also try Googleing WW points for specific foods. It may not b
the greatest solution, but you may find the answer elsewhere online.

I wish I could assist further or had better answers. We all have faced
similar problems, and hopefully the world will one day automatically
consider accessibility instead of the disabled community having to
constantly take up campaigns reminding the world we are here and wanting
to do all the same things.

Good luck with everything, and hang in there.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie Kline
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 8:54 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Accessibility questions, help needed

Evening all,

Thank you for your responses.  I guess I should have been more specific
on which area it was of the site I could not use, but I didn't know if
this was even an appropriate topic for the list, so I kept it short.

To answer Mike's questions, I have tried this with both JAWS 13 and
NVDA, no luck on either.  This Weight Watchers group was started as an
at work group, where they hold the meetings at your job instead of you
traveling to a center.  Of the members, 4 of us are blind.

The specific area I'm having a problem with is the eTools portion of the
site.  This is an important area because you are supposed to be able to
use this to go and look up point values for servings of different foods.
For people not familiar with how WW works, most foods have a point value
depending on what food it is and the size of your serving.  To stay with
the plan, everyone is given a pre set number of points, which they base
on things like your height, weight, gender, age, etc.  In order to have
access to this part of the site, you need a login and password, which
they won't let you create one unless you give them your credit card
information so they can bill you.  I did this.  I am able to get past
the login and password fields ok, but once you go here there is a
section of the eTools that wants you to personalize your information.
You can't bypass this, you can't skip it to go to the food database (or
anywhere else), it won't let you do anything else until the information
is confirmed.  I tried both with my i-phone app and the site, but the
phone version of it prompted me to go back online and finish setting up
the account.  Among other fields there is a calendar they want you to
fill in the date of your last meeting and what your weight was at that
time.  Using JAWS, you can't make any changes to these combo boxes.  It
won't let you go into forms mode, it won't let you use the down arrow to
access it, everything is silent when you try to move around and no
changes were made by using trial and error.

One of the other people who also uses adaptive technology told me that
he had a sighted person help him to set this up, but he said he still
couldn't get any further with it because everything was graphics.
According to the terms of their agreement, I can't give my login and
password out to anyone so unless the person helping is sitting here with
me, it's grounds for W W to terminate my membership if I do.  Because of
this, prior testing of this part of the site for accessibility was not
possible at that time.  It's restricted to only people who have a login.

I'm sorry if I came across as not being tactful; I just am upset by this
because I feel like if they're charging me for it, I should be able to
have some way of having access to it -- privately and independently.
The group leader's idea is to have me report to the other members what I
ate or am looking to eat and hope that someone will be willing to
calculate the points for me for the foods I don't know and aren't
listed.  I just feel that this opens me up to being judged by people and
none of the other members have to report what they do, which to be
honest, me saying what I had and them not reporting what they had makes
it feel very one-sided.  I'm not comfortable with that.  In speaking
with the district manager, there position on this is that they are not
going to make materials available in another format such as braille or
audio because they feel the quantity is too limited for their market.  I
have checked on bookshare and BARD, but the specific materials they make
reference to are not listed.

For anyone that wants to respond, you can contact me off list if you
like because I realize some people probably aren't interested in this
topic.  My e-mail address is Julie.kline at rochester.rr.com

Julie

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 10:57 AM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Accessibility questions, help needed

I just checked out the site and although there's the usual clutter of
unnecessary frames (read ads) with odd labels, if you ignore the
clutter, the site seems quite accessible to me. I was able to see
meetings in my area, look at recipes and tricks and find other desirable
information. The site has plenty of landmarks, headings and "skip
navigation" links for those who like such things (I prefer headings).
And the searches worked quite well with all combo boxes, checkboxes and
the like perfectly useable.

What version of JAWS, Window-eyes, SuperNova, NVDA or other
screen-reader is Julie using? So far as I am aware, the Department of
Justice doesn't deem a web site inaccessible because a user isn't using
the latest/greatest version of his/her screen-reader of choice.

To make this a bit easier on Julie, what aspects of the site are you
having trouble with? Perhaps we can coach you through it.

Mike Freeman

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Shelton
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 8:07 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Accessibility questions, help needed

Is this maybe something to bring to NFB?  WW is a major organization
with a web page that's supposed to serve their customers -- I'm thinking
the Target Stores precedent here.  What say, Mike?

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie Kline
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 9:25 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] Accessibility questions, help needed

good evening,
i don't know if you guys remember, but a couple of weeks ago I had asked
the question here about Weight Watchers and whether or not their website
and online tools were accessible for someone using a screen reader. As a
follow up to that question, I am very upset to learn that most of site
I'd need to use is not at all accessible. it doesn't respond to screen
reader commands and you can't navigate the thing because it's all flash
and graphics. of course the sign up page reads beautifully. i brought
this problem to our local Weight Watchers people and asked if I could
have the material in another format like braille, but they will not give
me a straight answer for this and the only thing they've given me is a
pocket guide. do I have any recourse here? saying I feel cheated is
pretty mild; I'm very upset that I'm not getting the same opportunities
as other participants though I'm paying the same money, and while
everyone else has multiple options for doing tasks, I don't even have
one. if anyone can offer me somewhere to go for help with this, I'd
appreciate any suggestions. if I'm just plain SOL AND THERE IS no
recourse here, then thanks for letting me vent. julie sent from my
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