[nfbcs] Questions Regarding Employment and Tools used in the Workplace

Thu Aug 1 12:02:52 UTC 2013

Regarding time reporting

I work for a major corporation and we have time reporting software ... and I believe it's a Java application too.  If I get into that application with my screen reader on, it's totally useless.  I have to kill the screen reader to be able to enter my time.  I've submitted requests for them to fix that problem, but as I see it, the request has fallen on deaf ears.  The screen reader I use is Jaws.  Even if I try to enter commands to put the Jaws in data entry mode, that fails with this software (web application).  All I can do is kill Jaws to regain control of the keyboard so I can enter my time.  Thank God I have vision or else I would be toast.  I believe this problem is symptomatic of the larger problem in the corporate world that is .... "if only one person is being affected by this problem, it's not worth the money and time necessary to fix the problem".  And so, after having reported this problem a few months ago, the problem still goes on.  But yes, time reporting is a pain.  As I say, thank God I have vision (and screen enlarging software ZoomText) or else I'd really be up a creek without a paddle so to speak.

And here's a side comment to this which you didn't ask for .... may be an interesting discussion point

My real need, as a low vision person in the corporate world, is to use Jaws (or perhaps I should say any accessibility software as there could be other packages that others use) as much as possible since it can read things to me faster than I can see and read them.  That helps me be more productive than my natural vision allows me to be.  In certain applications (such as non-web applications which are windows based applicatios) you can generally use the screen reader.  After all, the screen reader was initially designed to work with the desktop windows application.  However with web applications, you can't always be as successful with the screen reader.  In these situations, the HTML has to be formatted properly to ensure Jaws (or other screen readers) can successfully read the content.  This is not always the case ... the HTML might work and display properly, but it also might not be completely formatted, and it might be missing elements it needs so that the screen reader works.  The problem here in the corporate world is that you can request a change when your screen reader has issues, but the mentality of managers is that if the change is being made only for accessibility purposes, and it only benefits one person, managers (in my opinion) weigh the cost of the change against the benefit.  Since there's no business function benefit, and it only helps one person (or perhaps a ery small group of people) the change isn't made.  Thus, as in the case of the time reporting software, even though I made a request for change the request goes un-done.  Then you just have to make out the best you can.  And this doesn't just happen in time reporting software.  What if you're having difficulties in a development platform?  Answer - you may be toast and you just can't work in the environment you'd like to.

This all brings up the fact that corporations need to be sensitive to the needs of accessibility on all platforms.  It hasn't been my experience that this is the case.

> From: jordyn2493 at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 22:28:10 -0500
> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbcs] Questions Regarding Employment and Tools used in the Workplace
> 
> Hello all,
> This summer I had the pleasure of working as an IT intern fixing accessibility defects on a company's website. This was my first job, and I just had some quick questions regarding what you've experienced in the workplace.
> What do you do if a tool used by the company is inaccessible? For example, the tool we use to enter our hours on our timesheet is completely unusable by a screen reader. I think it is a Java app or something.
> We also use a tool for code review which highlights code in different colors and associates the highlighted code somehow with comments made by reviewers. How would you deal with a situation like this?
> Also, is there a way to accessibly use the web developer tools to read the HTML for a specific link or web element in IE?
> When you are fixing something like accessibility defects in code, how do you efficiently go through someone else's code to find the errors when there are multiple files and a zillion lines of code? I need to find the places where HTML needs to be added so the screen reader reads content properly.
> I really do appreciate any help and insight you can give me. If these questions are extremely broad, please let me know. This summer we did paired programming, so my partner and I figured out things together. However, when that's not the case,I want to be as efficient, independent, and productive at my job as I possibly can.
> Thank you,
> Jordyn
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