Hi folks,

Below, you will find my response to a very positive letter from Matt King at IBM, which was posted to the VICUG-L list.  Maybe we'll get an accessible survey form from IBM yet eh?


Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your letter, which made me feel a lot better about this business.  You're correct in that there was no specific mention of people with disabilities, but you think the authors of this form would have realized that input from disabled people would be of particular interest to IBM and that the form should have been designed to afford them the opportunity in the most expeditious way possible.  Anyway, I'm glad you are looking into this and sure hope it results in a form we can use.

As is the case with lots of folks on these lists, I am very much interested in the maximum level of access to emerging communications technologies as can be achieved.  Therefore, I am always interested in having input whenever the opportunity presents itself.  

I feel that all of us should take advantage of such opportunities.  First of all, we need to let the mainstream know that we're not only out there, but also working damned hard to become as well-informed as possible concerning technology and how we can make use of it.  Second, if we don't take these opportunities or insist on having input, it becomes that much easier for the mainstream to sluff us off, saying "Well see, we asked for input and didn't really get much response, so that proves the demand isn't really there, etc., etc., etc."

While I appreciate Mr. Smith's good intention in trying to deal with the situation, I was somewhat miffed by the "can't promise anything" bit.  It sure didn't bode well for IBM's traditional reputation of producing innovative products for blind people, all the way from the Audio Typing Unit back in the '70's, to Home Page Reader now.  Anyway, thanks again for your effort at getting this resolved.  Please be sure to let us know when there's a speech-friendly form that we can complete.

Regards,

Tom Dekker
  

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Matthew King <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2000 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: IBM's Inaccessible Survey for Disabled


Hello VICUG members, especially Tom Dekker,

I work for IBM in the area of accessibility. I wish to address some of the
concerns raised in Tom Dekker's  note included below. However, what I write
hear should not be construed as representing an official position taken by
IBM. I am not speaking for IBM in this note but rather as one of you who
can help contribute to the solution of the below described problem. I may,
although, be able to help expedite obtaining official communications if
necessary.

First, I welcome input concerning accessibility issues on IBM.com sites. I
work in the Chief Information Officer's office at IBM headquarters, and one
of my areas of responsibility is coordinating corporate efforts to improve
and monitor the accessibility of IBM.com. In doing so, I work very closely
with the IBM Accessibility Center -- the core group of people in IBM who
are experts on accessibility. You can read about the IBM Accessibility
Center (formerly known as IBM Special Needs Systems) at
http://www.ibm.com/able.

In case you are wondering, I am blind and I do monitor this list.

It is important to note that this survey was not contracted by the IBM
Accessibility Center. And, I doubt, and I can check on this next week, that
anyone in the Accessibility Center reviewed it. Tom indicated that the
survey was targeted at people with disabilities. That part slipped by me; I
don't remember seeing anything at the survey site that indicated so. If it
was, it certainly would seem to be a major oversight for the survey
developers to not have there work double checked by someone in the
Accessibility Center.

On the other hand, were it a general market survey, I would not necessarily
expect either myself or the Accessibility Center to have reviewed it. Keep
in mind that ibm.com consists of literally millions of pages. Those of us
in IBM who are exclusively focussed on accessibility help lots of
developers review their work as we guide them in the process of accessible
web development, but we cannot evaluate every single page that gets
published. Of course, one of our goals is to have web development processes
and developer education that will lead to a 100% accessible IBM.com. You
can help by letting us know about problems you encounter while doing
business with IBM.

When I saw the original posting pointing people to the survey, I was very
intrigued. I had not heard of it before that. I did take some time to check
it out. I think I got through about 30 or more pages of it before I ran out
of time and had to cancel out. I was using JFW 3.5.37 and IE 5.0. Although
I noted several problems with compliance to IBM's own accessibility
guidelines, I had difficulty with only a few pages. I do agree with Tom's
statement about the radio button labels. Although, the pages I found most
difficult were those where you were asked to rank features or desires from
1 to 5. Those pages were completely accessible but really hard to complete,
especially if you made an error by giving two items the same ranking. As I
remember, there was one other type of page I found difficult due more to
useability concerns than problems with accessibility guidelines compliance.
Of course the useability and accessibility frustration only added to my
annoyance with the repetitiveness and excessive length. It went on and on
and gave no indication as to how much further you had to go.

I will be contacting the people responsible for the survey to help them
understand what IBM's accessibility policy is and how to comply with it.
Again, I welcome any other useful and constructive input on this issue.

Best regards,
Matt King
Accessibility End User Advocate
IBM Business Transformation/CIO
Phone: (719) 520-3006, Tie line: 8-656-3006
Internet: [log in to unmask]


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