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Re: Accessible Applications

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From: Kara Zirkle
Date: May 13, 2008 8:40AM

Thank you,

I'm very familiar with VPAT's, I worked in the government for 3 years
prior to moving to higher education. However, that is half of my
battle. Either most of the companies don't have a VPAT because they
have not been asked or state they meet all state, university and federal
mandates while all the same they don't even know what half of them are.
Or I'm still so new in my position and Commonwealth of VA is still so
new in adopting the same rules and regulations no one has really been
made aware yet, unlike the federal government where it was mandated in
2001. So while I'm in the process of doing what I need to do here with
policy, awareness, language, etc. I was hoping to get some feedback from
other individuals using some of these products. In my experience with a
VPAT I will never trust just the documentation itself until I get to
either see the product or speak to a subject matter expert. However,
most of these applications are things that are already running and I
have no control over them until an update or contract renewal are due.
I understand that a product or company is not going to change their
software just b/c a university asked them. So I thought I would ask the
question to those hoping that perhaps other universities would speak up
so that those universities using the software could unite in an
accessibility "forum" if you will to exchange ideas, problems, concerns,
etc. about the softwares in which they are using. Together there should
be enough pull to contact a company and ask for some revisions. By all
means I'm still up for ideas, suggestions, etc.

Thank you,

Kara Zirkle
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Assistive Technology Initiative
Thompson Hall RM 114 Mail Stop: 6A11
Fairfax Campus
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-9815
Fax: 703-993-4743
http://www.gmu.edu/accessibility/ati/home.html



Karl Groves wrote:
> That's quite a list you have, Kara.
> One step that may help you in finding what you seek is to look for a VPAT
> for these products. Contrary to Darian's response, VPATs are not mandatory
> (what is mandatory is that the FAR Part 10 requires market research, for
> which VPATs help.).
>
> The other thing about VPATs is that, in my experience, they're often
> inaccurate. I don't want to say that vendors lie on their VPATs (though
> they could) but that sometimes it seems like the person filling them out
> doesn't seem to understand 508 or that the version of the application
> currently in release is not the same as the version discussed in the VPAT.
> There seems to be a lot of reasons why a VPAT could be inaccurate. The
> bottom line is, be skeptical. In cases where a VPAT was supplied by a 3rd
> party, accuracy seems to increase (because those 3rd parties don't want to
> be grilled about inaccuracies).
>
> A VPAT is NOT a legal document and does not, in and of itself, prevent or
> permit any acquisition.
>
>
>> Also, has anyone contacted vendors directly asking for changes to be
>> made in response to accessibility if contract language wasn't
>> originally
>> in the picture
>>
>
> In practice: Your chances are relatively slim and directly proportional to
> your purchasing power. For example, let's say GMU is purchasing something
> from Microsoft. The chance of them remediating something for GMU is
> nonexistent compared to the chance they'd do it for a major government
> agency such as IRS or SSA and, unless it is in the original contract is
> already slim-to-none. A contract is a contract and must clearly define the
> work to be performed, including adherence to any standards for
> accessibility. It would be like trying to take a car back to the
> dealership because it came with the wrong engine when you didn't tell the
> dealer which engine you wanted in the first place. The best you can do is
> learn from mistakes and make sure they're not made again.
>
>
>
> Karl Groves
> AIM/YIM: karlcore
> Skype: eight.pistons
> www.WebAccessStrategies.com
>
>
>
>>