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Re: The cost of accessibility

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Oct 5, 2010 11:27AM

"Well, my estimates do not include user testing or any sort of focus groups
with people with disabilities. Costs like that could be added and planned of
course, but I'm assuming a skilled team knows how to test with a screen
reader or any kind of zooming software to see if what they developed is
device-independent and compatible with most assistive technologies."

That's a deeply flawed assumption. Most highly-skilled developers have no
idea how to test with a screen reader or other assistive technologies even
though they think they do. Only a tiny number have had any contact with
people who use these tools. Virtually none have been trained by someone who
understands how the assistive technologies are used in practice and
understands the needs of the users.

At the current levels of skill and experience, I would pretty much discount
any testing done by developers. Expert review by a professional tester with
the appropriate experience is the bare minimum in order to be able to make a
plausible claim that a website is accessible, and user testing is
preferable.

Steve Green
Director
Test Partners Ltd