WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Accessibility training and certifications

for

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Dec 3, 2010 12:30PM

I wondered whether the NFIB ( http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Web_accessibility_consultants.asp?SnID=1940909702 ) certification as a web accessibility consultant is worth getting. So I checked out their site. Here's an excerpt, rearranged to put the introductory statement before the list of requirements:

If the answer to all of these questions is a resounding YES, then you may be qualified to become a Web Accessibility Consultant (WAC) for the National Federation of the Blind Nonvisual Access Certification program for Web applications:
Do you have experience with nonvisual access technology?
Have you used screen access technology in testing Web applications for accessibility?
Do you own licenses for at least two screen reading programs?
Are you familiar with Section 508 requirements and W3C guidelines?
Are you willing to provide examples of applications that have undergone your testing process, and are you willing to submit your Web application audit process to be certified by the National Federation of the Blind?
Are you committed to creating Web-wide nonvisual access? [End of excerpt]
The process seems simple enough, except maybe for owning licenses to at least two screen reading programs. That requirement raises some questions:
At the bottom of the page, they feature JAWS and Window-Eyes, including a link to each respective vendor's site. So do those two screen reading programs have to be JAWS and Window-Eyes? If so, can I count my agency's licenses? After all, I use them now and then. (They're on one machine in a classroom where we can teach accessibility and do some testing of documents and applications for accessibility.)
Shouldn't the copy of NVDA on my netbook at home count?
What about VoiceOver?
How about Read Out Loud?
Is anybody from the NFIB on this list? (If you are and I do or should know you, I apologize for not remembering that you are on *this* list.) I'd love to know the answers.

Thanks!
Cliff

>>> On 12/3/2010 at 1:05 PM, in message < <EMAIL REMOVED> >, "Hoffman, Allen" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
I must point out that this would be generally focused on two categories
of disabilities, not all categories, so is limited in scope.