Re: [SEC508] Accessible Applications

[Kara Zirkle <kzirkle1@gmu.edu>]

Thank you,

I'm very familiar with VPAT's, I worked in the government for 3 years prior to moving to higher  education.  However, that is half of my battle.  Either most of the companies don't have a VPAT because they have not been asked or state they meet all state, university and federal mandates while all the same they don't even know what half of them are.  Or I'm still so new in my position and Commonwealth of VA is still so new in adopting the same rules and regulations no one has really been made aware yet, unlike the federal government where it was mandated in 2001.  So while I'm in the process of doing what I need to do here with policy, awareness, language, etc. I was hoping to get some feedback from other individuals using some of these products.  In my experience with a VPAT I will never trust just the documentation itself until I get to either see the product or speak to a subject matter expert.  However, most of these applications are things that are already running and I have no control over them until an update or contract renewal are due.  I understand that a product or company is not going to change their software just b/c a university asked them.  So I thought I would ask the question to those hoping that perhaps other universities would speak up so that those universities using the software could unite in an accessibility "forum" if you will to exchange ideas, problems, concerns, etc. about the softwares in which they are using.  Together there should be enough pull to contact a company and ask for some revisions.  By all means I'm still up for ideas, suggestions, etc.

Thank you,

Kara Zirkle
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Assistive Technology Initiative
Thompson Hall RM 114 Mail Stop: 6A11
Fairfax Campus
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-9815
Fax: 703-993-4743
http://www.gmu.edu/accessibility/ati/home.html  

Karl Groves wrote:

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That's quite a list you have, Kara. 
One step that may help you in finding what you seek is to look for a VPAT
for these products.  Contrary to Darian's response, VPATs are not mandatory
(what is mandatory is that the FAR Part 10 requires market research, for
which VPATs help.).

The other thing about VPATs is that, in my experience, they're often
inaccurate.  I don't want to say that vendors lie on their VPATs (though
they could) but that sometimes it seems like the person filling them out
doesn't seem to understand 508 or that the version of the application
currently in release is not the same as the version discussed in the VPAT.
There seems to be a lot of reasons why a VPAT could be inaccurate. The
bottom line is, be skeptical. In cases where a VPAT was supplied by a 3rd
party, accuracy seems to increase (because those 3rd parties don't want to
be grilled about inaccuracies).

A VPAT is NOT a legal document and does not, in and of itself, prevent or
permit any acquisition.

  

Also, has anyone contacted vendors directly asking for changes to be
made in response to accessibility if contract language wasn't
originally
in the picture
    

In practice: Your chances are relatively slim and directly proportional to
your purchasing power.  For example, let's say GMU is purchasing something
from Microsoft.  The chance of them remediating something for GMU is
nonexistent compared to the chance they'd do it for a major government
agency such as IRS or SSA and, unless it is in the original contract is
already slim-to-none.  A contract is a contract and must clearly define the
work to be performed, including adherence to any standards for
accessibility.   It would be like trying to take a car back to the
dealership because it came with the wrong engine when you didn't tell the
dealer which engine you wanted in the first place.  The best you can do is
learn from mistakes and make sure they're not made again.



Karl Groves
AIM/YIM: karlcore
Skype: eight.pistons
www.WebAccessStrategies.com 


  

-----Original Message-----
From: sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu [mailto:sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu]
On Behalf Of Kara Zirkle
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 3:01 PM
To: webaim-forum@list.webaim.org; lyris-confirm-199773K@lists.etr.org;
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UCOP.EDU;
disabilitylist@lists.etr.org; LISTSERV@JISCMAIL.AC.UK;
icu@janejarrow.com; LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU; sec508@trace.wisc.edu;
Korey J Singleton
Subject: [SEC508] Accessible Applications

Is anyone using any of the following applications or products and if so
could you please give me some input on whether or not they are
accessible to individuals with disabilities or meet Section 508
Compliance?  Also, if anyone has done research on similar applications
and chose not to go with one of the following applications what
application did you go with that was more accessible?

Applications such as:

Adobe Breeze; Townhall; Blackboard; Respondus; CMS' Droople, Paperthin,
Commonspot and Figleaf; Luminous; Hawkeye software assets tracking;
Email applications GoogleApps, Microsoft Live or Exchange Labs; various
Blog Platforms (ex. Wordpress); various Survey Software; Banner and
other Sunguard applications; SkillPort; iTunes U Podcasting; Accordent
Capture; SharePoint 2007; Microsoft VISTA; ILLiad (interlibrary loan
management system); VuFind; Basecamp; GMPLS (generalized multiprotocol
label switching); AppWorx; and Touchnet software

Also, has anyone contacted vendors directly asking for changes to be
made in response to accessibility if contract language wasn't
originally
in the picture?  Can anyone make any suggestions about this?

Thanks,

--
Kara Zirkle
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Assistive Technology Initiative
Thompson Hall RM 114 Mail Stop: 6A11
Fairfax Campus
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-9815
Fax: 703-993-4743
http://www.gmu.edu/accessibility/ati/home.html

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