[nabs-l] Google aps and accessibility?

[Alexander Castillo]

Hi all, the complaint is being make in regard to universities using
Google aps as their means of virtual interaction in the classroom. In
the same way Blackboard was not accessible some years ago, many of the
Google applications are not accessible as well.

It was mentioned that the aps work with screen readers such as NVDA.
Last time I checked, the Spreadsheet or the standard email did not
work well with these. And many of the document features are also not
accessible. Google also has an app similar to Blackboard which many
schools are implementing and again, it does not appear to be
accessible.

>From personal experience, I have had very limited access to most of
the Google Docs features, and have had to use alternative ways of
receiving the same information as the people I was working with. The
most essential of these, was the ability to edit documents in
real-time, which is one of the most basic and most important of these
features.

Schools cannot use means of electronic communication, or technology
which exclude  part of their student body based on disability. This
would be considered discrimination. This is the case that we are once
again making.

We are not saying that Google should make all of their products
accessible. We are saying that if they are being used in universities,
then hey should be required to be accessible, otherwise, they should
not be used.

Thanks for reading,
Alex