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

Steve Jacobson steve.jacobson at visi.com
Thu Aug 1 15:30:18 UTC 2013


Mike,

Regarding your specific problem, did you try turning off the Virtual cursor in JFW?  It almost sounds as though that Forms Mode 
might not be working correctly preventing keyboard control.  Of course it could be worse than that.  Also, on some of these modern 
web applications, it isn't always a certainty if the software is truly not accessible or if the screen reader is not working 
right.  I don't think any of my comments negates the fact that we do have problems in the corporate world with accessibility and 
it is not an easy thing to address.  Some of the laws that cover governments don't cover private employers, or at the very least, 
not as clearly.  ADA coverage isn't automatic because of some of the "escape clauses" in that law such as the "undo burden" 
language etc.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 1 Aug 2013 07:02:52 -0500, Mike Jolls wrote:

>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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