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Re: Something's amiss with the latest survey

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From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Aug 28, 2015 3:02PM

> What the data does explain, however, is that partially sighted screen reader users were not counted in the past year's surveys.

I would certainly agree with this fact. People with low vision may switch between using no magnification with larger text, magnification, and a screen reader within the same session. The needs of users with low vision are often unique and may be different from users who solely rely on a screen reader. Historically people with low vision may have not seen themselves as screen reader users even though they may use text-to-speech but not rely on the full functionality of a screen reader.

In my pointing out that AISquared emailed it users about the survey -- I certainly was not saying anything wrong or improper was done -- it's just a fact of what occurred and is a very reasonable thing for a screen reader vendor to do. Regarding other vendors -- I did not personally get emails from those vendors regarding the survey. Having the most broad sample to get the most accurate data is what we all want.

Jonathan

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Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group
<EMAIL REMOVED>

703-637-8957 (o)
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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of David Wu
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 4:41 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Something's amiss with the latest survey

In past years Ai Squared did very little, if anything, to pass along the WebAIM survey. As a result, a very large segment of screen reader users were under-represented. In 2015, Ai Squared merely made our user base more aware of the survey. This is nothing more than what other screen reader user groups did in 2014, 2013, 2012, etc.

The higher percentage of ZoomText users from 2014 to 2015 doesn't mean that ZoomText suddenly saw a doubling of sales in the past year. What the data does explain, however, is that partially sighted screen reader users were not counted in the past year's surveys. The big jump in ZoomText share should not be surprising since ZoomText primarily benefits those users who need screen reading but can still see parts of their screen. Because the number of low vision users vastly outnumbers blind users by a ratio of 6 to 1, it is not surprising that when included in the survey in 2015, the market share results for ZoomText have shot up dramatically.

As for Window-Eyes, in January 2014, Microsoft announced that users of Microsoft Office 2010 or later would be able to download a free copy of Window-Eyes. While I am not at liberty to report the number of downloads, I can safely say that it is a monstrous number. Even if heavily discounted for tire kickers and those who downloaded but didn't use Window-Eyes, the numbers would still make a significant impact on overall market share.

Sincerely,

David Wu
CEO
Ai Squared