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Re: Screen Readers as a Development Tool for Web Developers

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From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Jul 17, 2015 2:34PM

Granted, this is typically a resource issue. I also wrote an article about this at
https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/4512178-5921880667464941572
(Who is best qualified to understand web accessibility?)

However it is equally unscalable to expect all developers to ignore how ATs work and at the same time expect that the software they build will somehow become more accessible automatically. Only through education and cooperation can this happen effectively.

There was a discussion about this to at
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-pfwg/2015May/0029.html

It is also just as easy to go down the rat hole of saying that, because most developers aren't properly trained now, they never will be.

Education has to start somewhere, and now we have some very good resources that are specifically dedicated for this purpose for engineers.

It cannot be helped if people don't want to learn, however for educators teaching programming, there is no reason why this can't be included within the curriculum for this purpose.
E.G https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/4512178-5986846570295877633

Additionally, collaborative projects such as the following
http://whatsock.com/training/matrices/
make it easier to understand basic role hierarchy mappings and how these map into the latest ARIA 1.1 standard.

Becoming more knowledgeable about accessibility is becoming easier, but others need to step up as well, both in the academic sector for the education of future engineers, as well as individual engineers wishing to remain relevant by updating their skill sets as modern technologies evolve. Accessibility is a coding discipline like any other.

For instance, as 'accessibility' as it relates to the Accessibility API on platform operating systems is updated frequently, as the ARIA 1.1 standard is being worked on to make these mappings more secure, and as ATs use these new technologies to provide better experiences for users, all of these are considered as evolving technologies that are relevant to the skill sets of current and future engineers; who need to understand how they work together in order to see how to make them work better within their software.

We can continue to build these new powerful technologies forever, but as long as these developments are ignored as being beneath the notice of the educational process for those implementing them, and engineers feel that it's too hard to figure it out, accessibility will never be scalable.

So for this to work, three things need to happen,
(1) operating systems and browsers and ATs need to integrate together better,
(2) conformant coding practices and Assistive Technology familiarization needs to be a standard part of the educational process for engineers within academics,
and (3) current engineers need to use these training materials to become stronger in the field.

These things are time consuming and hard at first, but it does get easier as common knowledge spreads. It's also important for companies to step up and provide the time and funding necessary to train their developers as well. Often it's not the lack of valuable materials for training that are at play, but rather, the unwillingness of the business department to see the point in allowing it.

Insufficient understanding does far more harm in the long run than any other type of issue in development.


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jennifer Sutton
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 11:44 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Screen Readers as a Development Tool for Web Developers

As evidenced by a recent thread:
http://webaim.org/discussion/mail_thread?threadp00

specifically this message from me:
http://webaim.org/discussion/mail_message?id(769

I continue to believe that expecting folks to learn how to use screen readers is not going to scale. And it too often takes people down rat holes that are not important. I find that this is especially so when folks have never seen real people who use a screen reader. Using a screen reader is not like using a browser.

Examples include both the difficulties people are having with understanding how to implement ARIA correctly, as well as, as far as I am concerned, the issues that are going to increasingly arise with the implementation of accessible SVG.

I realize what a complex issue this is (again, as evidenced by the thread cited above), but it seems to me that we've been having this expectation for many years, and it's not working particularly well.
If it were, we'd all be going out of business. [Some of you may not have that objective, but I do, even if my bank account may disagree.]

So, as I see it, we need a new way, and it seems to me that that way will involve meeting devs and designers where they are, i.e.
including relevant prompts (and visual replication of screen reader standard behaviors) in the off-the-shelf (commercial or opensource) tools they're already using.

If I were independently wealthy, and if I were a coder, I'd shut up and do it myself.

Dennis, for the record, this conversation has gone on many times in the past. Below my name are a small selection of links that, while they may have an older perspective, still outline the issues, I believe.

My conclusion: we have no choice, today, but I believe a paradigm shift would pay off hugely. And it *could* be (though I have no evidence for this, except hope) that digital publishers might be of great help in getting us there, given the large quantity of content and increasing requirements they have.

Best,
Jennifer
[hereby promising not to continue to step up on this Soap Box]

Should Sighted Developers Use Screenreaders To Test Accessibility Accessibility NZ http://accessibility.net.nz/blog/should-sighted-developers-use-screenreaders-to-test-accessibility/

Setting up a screen reader test environment http://www.iheni.com/screen-reader-testing/

Screen reader tips for Web Designers and Developers http://davidakennedy.com/2014/11/10/screen-reader-tips/

webaim Testing with Screen Readers - Questions and Answers http://webaim.org/articles/screenreader_testing/