[Ohio-talk] Workplace Accessibility/Assistive Tecch; Looking for input, possibly legality of an issue

Thu Nov 30 04:20:55 UTC 2017

I definitely think something should be done. Since they hire several blind
people it seems like the company has some responsibility. It really depends
on how hard you want to push. If some part of the system is not accessible
and the company offers an alternative method that method must work as well
as your ability to do it yourself. I think you could talk with the attorney
that works for NFB in Baltimore since she understands employment law much
better than any of us. If TJ reads this I hope he will have input too.

On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 9:38 PM, Wes Derby via Ohio-Talk <
ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Good Evening, Fellow Federationists.
>
> First, I want to say thanks for accepting me into NFB of Ohio. It was
> great to meet those I met at convention, and I look forward to many
> more to come.
>
> I apologize in advance as this will get long and may ruffle a few
> feathers. To try and sum it up, I'll provide a link to a blog post I
> wrote a few months ago on the topic for a more in-depth read. it's
> regarding a piece of software to which our sighted peers have access,
> but the JAWS users do not.
>
> Basically, my employer, Red Roof Inn Contact Center, hires several of
> us who are blind. Most of us work from home. Thanks to the company
> hiring a JAWS scripter,  most systems we use are pretty
> JAWS-friendly...Though we're still running on JAWS 14 with Internet
> Explorer 9. Most of us are also using our personal JAWS licenses as
> the company does provide the computer, but requires each employee's
> JAWS serial number...But, I digress.
>
> The one system that is fairly inacccessible with the systems we have
> is WFO/WFM (Work Force Optimization, sometimes called Work Force
> Management). This is the system used to check your PTO balance,
> request time off, and request VTO (Voluntary Time Off when it's
> slow/dead). Our sighted colleagues can do this themselves, no problem.
> If you are a JAWS user, you have to have someone from staffing or from
> your escalation department enter the requests for you...This is great,
> as long as someone sees your email quickly. Due to them not always
> being see timely, I know it's caused me one unexcused absence as there
> was time available when I sent the request, but because a sighted
> colleague entered her request an hour before someone got around to
> mine, I got the UA for a sick day.
>
> From what we've been told by the Good Will Easter Seals of Miami
> Valley job coach provided for the JAWS users, the system is not
> JAWS--friendly. Later, we were told the requests CAN be made with
> JAWS, but the GWESMV worker decided that based on her experience, it
> would be too complicated for a JAWS user. Though it IS web-based, the
> request system does not behave normally with JAWS and the version of
> IE we're running. This is the same person who told me the same about
> the previous system, which I mastered in about ten minutes, though she
> swore it would take hours.
>
> So, what I'm wondering is, is the way the company is handling this
> system acceptable from an accessibility standpoint, or am I right to
> be irritated by it? I'll be the first to admit I could be making
> something out of nothing...But I also like to do as much as I can
> independently.
>
> There are two camps of blind employees at the center, I've
> noticed...Some of the older folks are perfectly content to not learn
> the system, and to let staffing or Escalation enter requests for them.
> There are a few of us, however, who'd like the ability to do it
> ourselves with JAWS as our sighted counterparts can. The GWESMV worker
> in question finally told us in July, 14 months after this system was
> implemented, that though it was complicated, it may be able to be done
> with JAWS...However, she has not written up the instructions because
> she'd have to do so on her own time as she doesn't have a Red Roof
> client in training currently. My thought is, as soon as she determined
> it was maybe possible, she should've given that information to us and
> let us decide for ourselves if we were capable of figuring it out or
> not. The company has provided no response to the email exchanges on
> our JAWS list about fixing the system or hiring the scripter if
> necessary to do so...They tend to defer to the GWESMV worker's
> judgment when it comes to accessibility. Honestly, if I'd deferred to
> her judgment, I would not have the position I have now because at the
> time, the software wasn't scripted for JAWS. But, since I knew I was
> qualified for the job, I went for it anyway against her advice, got
> it, and am doing pretty well.
>
> Anyway, sorry this was so long. Here's the blog article I wrote for
> some more detail. If anyone has questions or opinions, please feel
> free to reply here or send me a message privately.
>
> Thanks!
>
> http://wesderby.net/dont-make-acccessibility-decisions-for-
> us-without-consulting-us-when-our-advocates-try-to-be-our-
> decision-makers-and-get-it-wrong/
>
> --
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>
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-- 
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053