I am looking for an accessory mentor. I have over three decades, if you count me, starting in high school, of work in the accessibility field. However, my career has stagnated due to life circumstances, and I am doing my due diligence to get back into my career. However, the job market seems to be incredibly competitive, and there are new rules to games that I am not familiar with. I’m also struggling with exactly where to focus my energy right now. Does anyone know where you can collaborate with other accessibility professionals or professional guidance?

Any advice and opinions greatly appreciated as I’m potentially looking to add breadcrumbs to my site to indicate to the user where they are in the transaction process as well as adding Step X of 5 to each page! However read on gov.uk not to use breadcrumbs for transactions specifically??

Also if it is ok to use, should the step number sit with the breadcrumb page title or ok to be elsewhere on the page?

Thank you :)

I reuse media frequently across my various social media sites, and while it's wonderful that most sites have gotten on board with supporting ALT-text entry as you post, there's no obvious way to load ALT-text from a media file directly. Would anyone here know of a media file format that retains text metadata (hypothetical example: jpeg with its 'tags' property)?

Based on your experience, what changes would you propose to make hiring processes more accessible? What would an ideal accessible hiring process look like, starting with the application all the way until onboarding? I'm trying to learn as much as possible to hopefully make a difference in the talent acquisition space. Any help would be very appreciated! Thank you.

Based on your experience, what changes would you propose to make hiring processes more accessible? What would an ideal accessible hiring process look like, starting with the application all the way until onboarding? I'm trying to learn as much as possible to hopefully make a difference in the talent acquisition space. Any help would be very appreciated! Thank you.

Hello! We are three Swedish digital design students writing our Bachelor’s Degree Project in Informatics. We are looking for participants for our survey about a HCAI-tool we have designed to support accessibility in web designing.

We are reaching out to users of Wordpress that have a basic understanding on how to build a website, but have little to no understanding of accessibility in web design.

There will be a video demonstrating our design concept, and following that we have the survey. Below is a link to a letter with more information and further instructions.

Please help some tired students out!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Cym2LByG3okaXCZfKT1E5x81rdeNucJ4atcAPUXdsQ

I know how to use the Chromebook accessibility tools and settings for my students, but does anyone use standard accessibility settings in a creative or innovative way? Is there something I may not have thought of that may take one of the tools to a new level?

I graduated this past December with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. I’ve mainly been working on my front-end web development skills and I just got my Trusted Tester Certification.

I’ve been searching everywhere for entry level Digital Accessibility related jobs (I’m in the US) including LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruitor, a11yjobs but I can’t seem to find anything.

Does anybody have some guidance or advice on what I should do?

I have a relative with cognitive difficulties. S/he is such an outgoing person and loves to keep in touch by texting with family members that live far away. The problem is that all (not some, not most) are difficult to decipher, leading to exhaustive exchanges, miscommunications, and frustration. As a result, some just stop trying to figure out what s/he means. For me, I can’t continue to stop and say just call me. Isn’t there an app or program that I can recommend? I did recommend grammarly but even that has limits. Any advice is appreciated.

I’ve been to a normal in person college before, and that didn’t work out for me. I had disabilities (adhd, auditory processing disorder) that they hadn’t the resources to accommodate, and some professors were dismissive of it. I found out about an accredited university that is completely online, and I’m doing much better. I don’t even know if I could do in person anymore without triggering a ptsd episode. (I also work full time too, so there’s that). Online courses saved the day. However, in another community, a professor accused me of making things up and some other academics implied and insisted that I can build certain skills while I’m in class and I simply cannot. Things have to be written out for me or on a video that is rewindable. Do people just not know what an auditory processing disorder is? Being academics, they should have an idea…

I'm trying to find some way to listen to my textbooks this semester instead of reading. I have tried Read&Write, NaturalReader, and whatever screen reader that comes with McGraw Hill books. I have two issues with these:

1. The readers always read every single thing on the page (the page number, headings, image captions) and it's super distracting
2. They can't pronounce many of the words, or they get tripped up by trying to read equations, so I end up having to read the textbook anyway, which defeats the purpose.

I dealt with oculomotor issues a couple years ago and I never found a good solution for audio textbooks so I just didn't do the readings for my courses. Now I have eye inflammation that's affecting my eyes' accommodation system so no matter what I do (wearing cheaters, larger text) reading puts a huge strain on my eyes and triggers a migraine. I'm really hoping a better solution has come about for this in the last couple years.

I only want it to read the body of the text. I can go look at diagrams and captions later. Is there a decent screen reader somewhere? Or a place I could download an audio version of the book (checked Learning Ally already, no dice)?

Is there anyone who can help me clear my CPAAC certification? I have already failed twice.

Hi, I just picked up some work screen recording an app testing it for accessibility. I try to record it, but the built-in screen recorder on iOS does not record me zooming in, which is essential because my fingers activate buttons when I’m zooming in.

Is there a screen recording app that will record me zooming in? My googling is not leading me to any apps that will do this

Guys it looks like document accessibility is waiting for breakthrough in Europe. It stuns me that I can't find remote tasks considering PDF/UA standard!!! If anyone knows company dealing with it and accepting new hires please send me DM.

Thank you,

my boyfriend is a low partial.

anyone know what if any of these eu regulations are for making things accessible, and holding people accountable for making their services and programs accessible?

this company is in the EU, could be in the UK, but seems like a EU thing that is hevily used there. WE are american, me and my boyfriend. he's trying to use this product for work. actually his work is using it or the client his has them use it. So the problem is that it isn't actually accessible. too many of things are wrong with it. he has to get trained on the product and everything. but it is not even possible to pass the certification because it's not accessible? Not sure if the company wants to help or if it's possible to get hold of a manager. what rules and regulations are there in the EU to protect this and to help? is there an authority.

any ideas? if he doesn't pass this class or test or can't do this job he may lose his job or his client, which he definitely wants to avoid. the client will also not help him so that's another problem.

Hey all!

I've posted a few articles here before, have been an accessibility specialist and web developer for 7 years and I also have a disability and chronic illness.

Since even my earliest days in accessibility i've seen overlays and automated remediation solutions create a controversy in conversation and thought that something better must be possible with automation - not something that bandaids a problem but something that leverages technologies built to boost the expertise already on display by so many brilliant accessibility specialists.

I've also seen, not just professionally but personally, how no matter how much someone cares about accessibility there is a diverse set of needs by many disabled and non-disabled users and of course, business requirements.

I've launched A11YBoost in an attempt to help people understand the accessibility issues on their digital products, and the benefits of fixing them! It provides automated monitoring and reports to help make your website accessible to users and search engines.

It currently has 26 tests powered through traditional parsing, headless browsing and AI. I would love to hear your feedback and what I could do differently.

To be clear - This is NOT an auto-remediation tool, overlay or offers accessibility compliance. I believe that as much as technology is improving, accessibility compliance (legally or socially) is not possible without people, particularly people with disability.

You can view the tool at A11YBoost.com

I recently started working at a library and archive, and one of my roles is to manage our website.

One of the ongoing projects is sharing newspaper clippings from our collection online. So far it's been done as follows:

1. Clipping is scanned
2. A PowerPoint presentation is made, featuring the clipping with some relevant information or story
3. PPT is uploaded as Pdf, linked directly from our homepage and various menus as deemed appropriate.

Unfortunately, this isn't very accessible at all. Not only are we uploading a picture of text (which I'm pretty sure might be grounds for an accessibility lawsuit in my country), we then redirect our audience to a pdf directly, without any warning, when they're probably expecting a web page. I personally find it unseemly and the design a little tacky to top it all off, but that's relatively irrelevant.

Does anyone have any advice or examples as to what I could do going forward? Our scanners do have OCR capabilities (not sure how well they work) but I think our website platform doesn't have the option to embed a pdf into the webpage. Is there any solution that isn't to just upload the articles as a jpeg and transcribe them?

Hi all - long time lurker, first time poster (I think?)

I noticed recently that there was an update to Reddit's UI and with it, the links in a lot of subs have gotten darker. Is that just me? I don't remember that being an issue before and I have never had a problem seeing or finding links, but now it's hard to see it in a lot of places.

The link text is so dark and close in color to the body text in fact that someone just replied to a comment I left asking me to send them the link that was posted in my comment. I couldn't see the link at all it until I was hovering over the exact text and saw the underline appear. Is this a universal change across the platform and if so, would it be worth me sending a request via their help desk to update this? Am I alone in experiencing this?

Edit: here is a screenshot of the text in question and here is the alt text since this UI version doesn't let you add it -

"Cold emailing can appear to be low cost, but it should also be high effort. You will need to put in a lot of research, do your homework on the people you are pitching to, and do a deep enough dive into what you know about their businesses to make sure that they are your target audience. Don't be afraid to be niche and look for a very small segment of an industry to target. And please, make sure that you get the name right - mine is literally on my About page, but the number of times I get a generic "Dear Sir/Madam" is a lot.

If you go this route, this is solid and actionable advice from a LinkedIn post on how to write a pitch that converts."

The text with the link is the phrase "this is solid and actionable advice from a LinkedIn post " and it reads as dark green, but the underline doesn't appear until you hover. I almost couldn't see it.

https://preview.redd.it/umx7x7qqm2vc1.png?width=947&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9cf299ed75a74b56d182154b8f8041eca9b0b5e

Hey all! I'm a speech pathologist who now works in as assistive tech startup. Wanted to pass along our app for Windows & Mac that we've been working on with adaptive speech/voice controls. Happy World Voice Day! https://cephable.com/2024/04/12/adaptive-speech-controls-inclusive-design-for-every-voice/

I recently saw a want ad for a 508 tester that mentioned the CTFL. I wasn't familiar with it, so I googled it. It doesn't seem to be difficult or expensive, but I'm not familiar with it. I'm just wondering if it's worth it for someone who doesn't have the required 3 years of experience to take the WAS.

How would a person who is beginning their a11y career stand out from the crowd as a technical professional?

Hi! I'm the project-lead for a community garden at a nonprofit that has older adults with varied mobility on-site. I'm trying to research good materials to use for the walkway (funds are limited and we want to pave the area as much as possible, but can't do a lot) and spaces around the raised beds that won't be too difficult for adults to navigate. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Good morning / night I'm here today to ask for help. (I can't understand the order of a mind map/roadmap because it's not fully accessible) Can someone please rewrite it for me in the comments ? Oh. I'm also blind as my username says

https://roadmap.sh/computer-science

Edit 1 ; I might make more posts like these in the future (I'm sorry for giving you all trouble)

I am trying to figure out what is the best order for horizontal, grouped CTA's.

From a basic UX perspective the primary CTA should be on the right as you scan in a Z shape. (Var A) But from an accessibility standpoint I think it's awkward if the screen reader reads "cancel" before "save". (Var B)

What do you all think?

Hello, one of my students and I became frustrated with Pearson’s lack of accessibility on their IQ test. My student really wanted to do his best so he could show everyone what he can do. Portions of the Wiat assessment are completely inaccessible to people with visual impairments. The test is administered on an iPad which could have been used to increase the test’s accessibility but was not. I called Pearson to ask about a more accessible way to proctor the test. Pearson shared that they do not have accommodations for people with visually impaired. They also do not have accessible large print/braille copies of the test. We would like all students with visual impairments to have access to the test (braille users included). I feel the lack of accessibility in testing leads to lower expectations for students with visual impairments. I hope you will consider signing our petition. Thank you in advance. https://www.change.org/BetterTestsForLowVision

So I got my TT certification before the 2024 update and I've been working through this new version to see if there are any significant changes to the material and to practice my skills. I know some users complained about the previous version having errors, being difficult, or confusing at times but so far I definitely prefer that version to this 2024 update.

I really dislike that every link is a new window that pops out from my browser (it doesn't just create a new tab in my existing browser window). I can recall the previous version doing the same thing when you launch the websites you would need to test but I don't remember it doing it when you select the links to read about a topic.

I've also come across errors in the Topic 5: Forms section where the question would display a test ID and then give that test ID the wrong Test Condition definition/summary. There would be a mismatch between the Test ID, Test Name, and Test Condition. I found this error quite often so let me know if you have come across the same thing.

There was another error in the same Forms section regarding error prevention. I thought I documented this error but I can't find any of the screenshots I took. This error involved you checking if the website passed/failed/DNA the Error Prevention test but there was no submit button or any mechanism to submit the form so how would you be able to test for error prevention? There wasn't a way to determine if there was any automatic error detection as well. I also had an instance where the form fields appeared to not accept user inputs as none of the keyboard inputs were appearing in the form field. I thought maybe the form field was disabled but when I highlighted the form elements with the mouse cursor, all the keyboard inputs were there. I'm not sure if I checked if it was because the font color was set to white (as was the form field background) but this was also a pain.

So far I'm halfway through the program and I plan only completing it within the next three days. One of my goals is to help people get their Trusted Tester certification. I found my certification journey frustrating at times but very rewarding and I'd love to offer some training or 'tutoring' in some capacity but right now my main focus is to retest. I'll update this post once I finish this certification round.

What are your thoughts/experience with this new update? Do you prefer it over the previous version?

Update 4/16/204: I forgot to mention that the "Trusted Tester Training for Web" course so far does not require users to identify the elements that failed the test condition, so far it's all been multiple choice questions. So they completely revamped the 'Incremental Practical Exams'. I think this removes a lot of the hands on engagement since before you'd need to identify all failures, and now you just need to identify if it failed, and choose a very general reason why the test condition failed.