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Re: Tips on totally blind testing for the low visionaccessibility

for

From: Guy Hickling
Date: May 2, 2017 12:25PM

This is something I have been thinking about these last two or three weeks
because I am training up a blind consultant. We are currently going through
various common accessibility issues to work out which ones he can report on
his own and which ones he can't.

In answer to the original question, yes, many visual issues have to be left
to sighted people. The most obvious one is probably colour contrast, which
can only be tested by a sighted person and is very fiddly as well.

But there are others where a sighted person could test, perhaps under his
instruction, and briefly tell him what is wrong, then he takes notes and
can provide the proper comments and recommendations in his audit report.

We are dividing the issues up into three categories:

- screen reader issues he can report solely on his own
- ones that must be left for a sighted colleague
- and a third category in between where he can report them with
assistance from an assistant who is computer literate, but not one
necessarily versed in accessibility.

The third category comes about because he is based in the UK where (and I
don't know if there is an equivalent in the States) he can get social
funding for a paid support worker for a certain amount of hours each week.
It is ideal work, of course, for a computer programming student or similar
wanting the extra cash, though it isn't always possible to find someone
like that. But some people in a similar position may be able to get help
from family members or such.

Quite soon we are going to be considering image alt texts. A sighted person
could tell him what images a page has, where they are, and whether they are
decorative or not. He can then listen to the alt texts, if any, in his
screen reader and report them appropriately. We are also experimenting with
browser debugging tools to see how easily he can get round them (they have
rather complex interfaces).
It's early days in this journey at the moment, but it seems to be working
out well for him.

Regards,
Guy Hickling
Accessibility Consultant
http://www.enigmaticweb.com