[IL-Talk] More Advice

[dan.tevelde at comcast.net]

Hi all,

 

I hate to bug people with questions like this but I ran into a challenging
situation. Yesterday I had an interview with a company Applause. They are
one of several well-known accessibility testing firms though their website
doesn't provide much information. They recruited me three years ago and I
didn't get an interview. I don't think the timing was right and I got
another job anyway. The interview went well and the manager was prepared to
hire me for freelance work if I completed their training. This seems
reasonable. The manager said he would check to see if the training modules
were accessible. I got an e-mail this morning where he indicated that the
training is not accessible and they couldn't offer me an alternative.

 

I don't see how an accessibility testing company can get away with something
like that. It was interesting that when I asked the interviewer if the
company had testers with disabilities I didn't get a straight answer. I'm
not sure what to do. On the one hand, I could forget about it and look for
another job. On the other hand, an accessibility testing firm should not be
allowed to get away with this. It completely destroys their credibility and
shows they don't really care about people with disabilities. It would be a
really bad situation if they get government contracts. There are a lot of
scams out there were companies say they do accessibility testing but don't
provide any evidence. Applause is well-known and several people I know
recommended I apply for a job there. This was my first interview experience
with them and I liked the manager. He liked my skills and seemed prepared to
hire me for freelance work. Do you have any suggestions? I haven't responded
yet because I might want to take some kind of action but I want the action
to be effective. Companies which do accessibility testing should be held to
a high standard and involve people with disabilities in their workflow. This
is generally the case. Some of the other accessibility testing firms I'm
aware of like Deque, Level Access, and Siteimprove do have people with
various disabilities doing accessibility testing. Let me know what you
think.

 

Thanks,

Dan