WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: pay for accessibility testing?

for

From: Elle Waters
Date: May 16, 2013 2:36PM

Angela:

As our company also charges for this kind of work, and that might not be an affordable solution for you, I thought I'd offer some alternatives.

You could explore the possibility of working with a service like Loop 11 or even perhaps a local organization to gather user feedback. The potential wins of that are that it would be relatively low cost, if structured like a usability test and administered by your own staff. The potential down sides are that the results and any remediation plans are going to lack the expert guidance that many of the agencies on this list can provide. But, it's certainly an option.

Another idea is to hire people with disabilities, even if as contractors, for open positions. At my previous job, we worked with the NIB to run a pilot with one of our call centers. It was a huge success (and I do recommend them), and it also raised awareness at the company. The down side is one you're looking to address but one that might become critical or much bigger in scope: you will need to ensure that these individuals have equal access to *all* tools to perform their job duties. That was definitely our biggest hurdle, working with IT, security, and HR on a regular basis. This pilot impacted a lot more departments than originally anticipated, but it also impacted a lot more departments than originally anticipated. :)

Hope that helps,
Elle



On May 16, 2013, at 3:15 PM, "McKeithan, Thomas" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> NIB provides accessibility testing and remediation of web sites, applications and documents. Please contact me if you'd like an assessment.
>
> Respectfully,
> Thomas Lee McKeithan II
> Accessibility Program Manager
> National Industries for the Blind
> 1310 Braddock Place
> Alexandria, VA 22314
> (703)310-0586 Direct
> (703)477-6813 Cell
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>
>
> "Believing is achieving, for if I believe, I can and I will achieve."
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Steve Green
> Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 4:02 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] pay for accessibility testing?
>
> There are several (many?) of us in here who offer such a service. I would be happy to discuss this off-list if you wish, but sadly our accountants do insist that we charge for it. The rates are of course very reasonable.
>
> Steve Green
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Angela French
> Sent: 16 May 2013 20:45
> To: WebAim Forum ( <EMAIL REMOVED> )
> Subject: [WebAIM] pay for accessibility testing?
>
> Given the recent threads about having a real screen reader user testing applications/sites, does anyone know of a service one can hire to test an application? It's one thing to ask the kind people on this list to take a peek at something once in a while, but it would be great to have access to a service that would give a thorough review with different readers and browsers. The problem from our end of course, as a small state government agency, would be paying for it.
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Angela French
> Internet Specialist
> State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.checkoutacollege.com/
> http://www.sbctc.edu
>
> > > > > > > >