[NFBCS] Webex and accessibility?

Tue Nov 17 16:00:01 UTC 2020

Greetings:

Here in Colorado, our governor’s office of information technology did some investigation into Webex accessibility and passed along some very useful information to me. This is not to say that Webex is fully accessible—only that it is perhaps ore accessible than we might have thought.

For example, here are the step by step instructions from the Rutgers University site (https://radr.rutgers.edu/resource/how-access-webex-jaws):

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How to Access WebEx with JAWS

Joining the Meeting

Below are the instructions on how to join your WebEx meeting. Please note:  first time users may experience WebEx trying to download an app. You can choose to download the app (and run it afterward) or you can navigate to the 'open in browser' link. Once WebEx loads you'll follow the steps below.

1.	You'll hear "Your full name edit, type in text." Type in your name and press tab
2.	You'll hear "Email edit, type in text". Type in your email address and press tab
3.	You'll hear "Next button, to activate press spacebar". Press Spacebar
4.	You'll hear "Webex.rutgers.edu <http://Webex.rutgers.edu>  wants to use your microphone use your camera", click tab and you'll hear "allow". Press space.
5.	You'll hear "frame, show me what's new". Press tab and you'll hear "skip". Press space bar
6.	You'll hear "join meeting button, to active press space bar". Your microphone and camera will be on by default. Press shift + tab to select the camera button and turn off the camera. Press shift +  tab again to select your microphone and turn off your audio. On the meeting button, Press the space bar to join the meeting.

Using Webex Commands

The following commands will help you navigate once you are in WebEx.

Mute/Unmute yourself-

Ctrl + M

Using the Chat

1.	Open the command window by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Q. You may have to do this twice. You'll hear it say voice check (or not checked).
2.	Click tab until you hear "Chat not checked," then press the space bar to activate the chat window.
3.	Press F6 to navigate to the details pane
4.	Press Ctrl + Tab to go to the chat. You'll hear "Chat uncollapse, press space bar to collapse".
5.	Press tab to go to the select 'Message To; option. This is who you would like to send a message to. The default is to everyone.
6.	Press tab again to go to the edit box, this is where you can write your message. Click enter to send.
7.	Press tab again, and it will bring you to the chat box itself. Use your up and down buttons to navigate through the chatbox.

**Troubleshooting tip: If JAWS decides to stop talking, or doesn't read the chatbox: Press INSERT + J, then Alt F4 to close JAWS. Then press your windows key, type in JAWS and press enter. JAWS will restart and then will work as intended.

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I would comment in passing that the procedure for shutting JAWS down is technically not correct. Experienced JAWS users know that the best way to shut JAWS down is to press INSERT+F4.☺

One problem that users of Microsoft Outlook may experience with Webex meeting invitations is that the Notes field in the invitation or calendar event contains tables that are oftentimes difficult to read with a screen reader. To work around this problem, I sometimes have to copy the information to the clipboard and then paste it into Notepad for easier reading.

I hope this is of some help.

Cordially,

Curtis Chong

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Steve Shelton via NFBCS
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 8:39 AM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Steve Shelton <stevesheltonokc at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Webex and accessibility?

WebEx is accessible as far as connecting to the meeting. When I used this on

the job, the point of using WebEx was to share screens. This is not

accessible since the information shared is only images.

If we were reviewing documents in the meeting, I would often ask that the

documents be sent to me before the meeting so I could follow along. You can

also use JAWS convenient OCR to read the screen if the presenter is not

doing a lot of scrolling.

As far as calling the phone number, you would need to identify yourself

because your name will not display as a participant. Many meetings I was on

used the participant list to take roll.

Hth

SteveC

-----Original Message-----

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione via NFBCS

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 8:53 AM

To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>

Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>

Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Webex and accessibility?

Hi Elizabeth.

No, it's usable, though I find Zoom easier.

My main problems were with connecting to Webex.  I was really only

successful connecting by computer audio, or calling the 415 number, though