lwsimon Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 I'm trying to move accessibility and usability into the forefront with our IT department, and have received quite a bit of pushback. Can anyone cite litigation that resulted in disabled users being unable to access company information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkencreative Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 The whole Target accessibility lawsuit? http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200710/update_on_the_target_accessibility_lawsuit/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwsimon Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 The whole Target accessibility lawsuit? http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200710/update_on_the_target_accessibility_lawsuit/ I brought that up - their argument was "But that's dealing with customers. These are employees. They shouldn't be using the application" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falkencreative Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 What's the pushback from IT? The time (and time == money) modifying things to adjust for accessibility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwsimon Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 What's the pushback from IT? The time (and time == money) modifying things to adjust for accessibility? Not quite spoken like that, but essentially. I'm being viewed as a picky business partner, because I want them to build things correctly. I need to come back to them with an argument they understand. So far, the best I've found is a snippet from the ADA website: An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the employer's business. Undue hardship is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as an employer's size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSW Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 ADA is the best place. It is a matter of Discrimination. If they have a anti-discrimination policy then they are breaking it be the sounds of it. The State of Texas was sued as well as Oracle when three Blind Texas State Employees could not work with Oracle servers due to lack of software to support them in what was part of their job description. JAN (Job Accommodation Network) is a great place to check out I found a list of Supreme Court Cases. Jan's Accommodation Information by Disability: A to Z gives you an idea of what disabilities can be problematic and leads to links about how to help people with special needs, I used it to inform my boss about my disabilities. Here is JAN for Employers But yes, they need to be aware that knowingly creating anything that can cause current or future employees not to be able to do the job could be taken to court as discrimination. It is likely cheaper to do it right than try to fight it in court, even Target gave up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lwsimon Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 ADA is the best place. It is a matter of Discrimination. If they have a anti-discrimination policy then they are breaking it be the sounds of it. The State of Texas was sued as well as Oracle when three Blind Texas State Employees could not work with Oracle servers due to lack of software to support them in what was part of their job description. JAN (Job Accommodation Network) is a great place to check out I found a list of Supreme Court Cases. Jan's Accommodation Information by Disability: A to Z gives you an idea of what disabilities can be problematic and leads to links about how to help people with special needs, I used it to inform my boss about my disabilities. Here is JAN for Employers But yes, they need to be aware that knowingly creating anything that can cause current or future employees not to be able to do the job could be taken to court as discrimination. It is likely cheaper to do it right than try to fight it in court, even Target gave up. Yes, I see it that way as well. I'm pretty outspoken politically, and oppose any and all regulations requiring businesses to cater to people they don't want to. That said, it doesn't make sense to build an application in a manner that will cause issues for users, when creating it correctly is simply a matter of doing things the right way the first time. Also, I have HR's backing on this. I'm just looking for a way to diplomatically show the people building the software "this is why you should do it this way." I would rather change their minds than simply have someone tell them the way to do it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSW Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 Good attitude. Tricky goal. Well you can always grab the links from my "from the mouth of the users." Not specific to your situation but will give them some ideas of the difficulties people have. Pointing to Texas and the fact that future court cases are more expensive then doing it right. Pocket Books speak really loud. Examples... would you mark documents with a color code if you knew the employee using it was colorblind? My former boss was, so always had issues with people using red to highlight things as he could not see red. then there is my old standby, what about next year? Do they want to re-do something in a year because they hire a new employee who has an issue? Do they want to re-program something because a current employee looses some of their ability due to an accident, illness etc.? No one knows what tomorrow will bring, how often do they wish to rework it and how much would that cost? Transferring a person or letting them go would be legally questionable and quite expensive compared to thinking ahead and doing it right. I guess what I mean is people rarely do what is right for the right reasons... So like food designers who use white glue on ceriel so it looks pretty in photos, we must convince them it is better to do it and the pocketbook is the best way. It is our dilemma when doing the right thing is not enough. Good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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