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Category: Accessibility

It is time to let go of the waterfall model of accessibility

Today, Henny Swan posted a blog entry titled Accessibility for Project Managers. Henny’s article is a pretty complete overview which discusses all of the steps in the SDLC in which accessibility should be considered. The article mirrors, in many ways, the information I discuss in a training course I’ve created on the topic and also …

Agile & Accessibility

Agile software development is a group of software development methodologies based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery; time boxed iterative approach and encourages rapid and flexible response to change. It is a conceptual framework that promotes foreseen …

Users Must Become Their Own Advocates

Last week, a second United States federal judge ruled that state anti-discrimination laws do not apply to airline websites and kiosks. Following this decision, JetBlue staff have reacted rather crassly to the court’s decision, posting Twitter messages like the following: “We’re glad that the court validated our position that state law should not impact a …

My Challenge to the Accessibility Community: We Need an Accessibility Body of Knowledge

In my post “Barriers to Improving the Accessibility Game Plan”, one of the things I said was: There is a shocking lack of independent and open knowledge out there on accessibility. If we were to assemble a full compendium of information that exists on accessibility on the web, what we’d find is that the information …

Why a Third Party Should Prepare Your VPAT

Introduction The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, or VPAT, was created by the Information Technology Industry Council as a means for vendors to supply information to government agencies regarding the level of compliance with the Technical, Functional Performance, and Documentation & Support requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. This documentation format can help procuring …

Barriers to Improving the Web Accessibility Game Plan

This past March, Jared Smith moderated a session at CSUN titled “Do We Need To Change the Web Accessibility Game Plan”. The discussion at and after the session was filled with interesting perspectives. The diversity of viewpoints demonstrates what a complex topic this really is. I’d like to take my stab at addressing this topic, …