WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Web Analytics

for

From: Will Grignon
Date: Apr 10, 2012 12:05PM

As a blind user, I would think that the issue of forced identification can
be quite important in the employment arena, where disabled applicants, who
are required to do things like fill out online applications might want to
prevent potential employers from knowing they are disabled. Since, The
decision when/if to disclose is a very personal one and giving potential
employers the ability to determine which applicants are using AT might give
rise to fears that these employers are (either consciously or subliminally)
using this capability to "weed out" disabled candidates.

Although, I suppose that potential employers can counter that, while the ADA
does not require a disabled applicant to disclose a disability at the
application stage (or even the interview stage) of the employment process,
disabled applicants are required to notify potential employers of a
disability if that disabled applicant is requesting reasonable
accommodations in order to complete the application process.

However, I can imagine that such disabled applicants could make a case that
AT is a passive technological accommodation that does not require express
disclosure of a disability to the employer and therefore should not
incorporate the employer's ability to identify applicants who use such AT
functionality.

An interesting question would arise if the potential employer's web-based
employment processes either malfunction or do not contain adequately
accessible functionality, and the disabled applicant is then forced to
contact the potential employer and, compelled against her private wishes,
identify herself as disabled and in need of reasonable accommodation AT...