Is the product accessible?
CHALLENGES WITHVPATSNovember 6, 2013
© 2013 Interactive Accessibility11/6/2013 1
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Kathleen WahlbinEmail: [email protected]: 978-443-0798http://www.interactiveaccessibility.com
The Accessibility Experts
VPATS
What is a VPAT?
What about 3rd Party Applications?
What do we need to comply with? Are there exceptions?
If the VPAT says supports, does that mean it will work with assistive technology?
How do I know if the VPAT is accurate?
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WHAT IS VPAT?
What is VPAT?
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What is VPAT? What is it’s Purpose?
• Stands for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template• A tool to document a product's conformance with
Section 508• Assists procurement departments and government
agencies in making initial assessments of the level of accessibility
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Section 508
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Software
Web
Telecommunications
Video & multimedia
Self-contained, closed products
Computers
Documentation / Support services
Format of VPAT
• List of the Section 508 standards with summary– Summary table provides an overall level of conformance
to Section 508– Series of Section 1194 tables list the detailed
requirements and the level of conformance to each provision
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Summary Table
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Guideline Applicable ComplianceSection 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating
Systems
Applicable Supports through Equivalent
Facilitation
Section 1194.22 Web-based internet information and
applications
Applicable Supports
Section 1194.23 Telecommunications Products Not Applicable -
Section 1194.24 Video and Multi-media Products Not Applicable -
Section 1194.25 Self-Contained, Closed Products Not Applicable -
Section 1194.26 Desktop and Portable Computers Not Applicable -
Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria Applicable Supports with exceptions
Section 1194.41 Information, documentation, and
support.
Not Applicable -
Summary Table
• Table of each of the sections• Section is compliant if all the provisions meet the
requirements– Supports– Supports through equivalent facilitation– Supports when combined with compatible AT
• Section is partially met if any of the requirements are “supports with exceptions”
• Section does not meet the requirements if any provisions has “does not support”
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Detail Requirements
• Each table has three columns as follows:
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Column Name PurposeCriteria: Describes a specific provisionSupporting Features: Provides a summary of the support for the
subpart of provisionRemarks/Explanations: Explains how it does or does not support the
provision
Level of Support
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Supporting Feature Phrase What It Means
Supports Fully meets the provision
Supports with Exceptions Does not fully meet but provides some level of access
Supports through Equivalent
FacilitationMeets by providing an alternative method
Supports when combined with
compatible AT
Meets the provision when used with compatible assistive
technology
Does not Support Does not meet the provision
Not Applicable Provision does not apply
Not Applicable – fundamental
alternation exception applies
Fundamental alternation of the product would be required to
meet the criteria
Example – Section 1194.21
Criteria Supporting Features Remarks and explanations
(a) When software is designed to run on a system
that has a keyboard, product functions shall be
executable from a keyboard where the function
itself or the result of performing a function can be
discerned textually.
Supports through
equivalent facilitation
The website can be accessed with the keyboard except for the drag
and drop form control, increase and decrease value and the
calendar control. An alternative and equivalent version has been
provided for all data entry.
(b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable
activated features of other products that are
identified as accessibility features, where those
features are developed and documented
according to industry standards. Applications also
shall not disrupt or disable activated features of
any operating system that are identified as
accessibility features where the application
programming interface for those accessibility
features has been documented by the
manufacturer of the operating system and is
available to the product developer.
Supports The website does not disrupt or disable Windows operating system
accessibility features such as high contrast mode, filter keys, toggle
keys, sticky keys, and the on-screen keyboard.
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What Sections Are Required?
• Websites– Subsection 22 & 31
• Web applications– Subsection 21, 22, 31 and most of the time 41
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WCAG 2.0 Statement of Accessibility
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• Two options:– Accessibility statement describing level of compliance with
WCAG 2.0 success criteria– Conformance claim
CHALLENGES WITH VPATS
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Company Perspective
• Release schedules often tight• Balance between features and accessibility• Time for accessibility testing• Large, distributed teams• New staff may not know accessibility• New product acquisitions / third party applications• Section 508 is outdated set of guidelines so does not
always make sense given current technology• Telling too much can hurt the sale of the product
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VPAT Consumer Perspective
• Procurement officer does not know how to interpret it• Difficult to know whether or not the VPAT is accurate and
complete• Often does not have a lot of information• Information contained in the VPAT may be confusing• Product may not be available to verify the information• Hard to compare competing products based on VPAT
– Subjectivity by VPAT authors and product reviewers– Detail and completeness may vary by authors– The product with fewer apparent problems may get selected even if
it is not the most accessible
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General Issues with VPATs
• Provisions are high-level and do not provide enough information to know if it will work for a person with a disability
• Meeting the guidelines does not always mean it will work well with all assistive technology
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What challenges do you face?
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What is a good VPAT?
• Has enough information to know what the issues are and the impact of those issues
• Clearly identifies what areas of the site are covered under the VPAT
• Documents types of users who may have issues with the product
• Provides details for all provisions on how it meets or does not meet the requirements
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What are some examples of good VPATS?
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Example VPAT language
(d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
Supports Application includesmodal dialogs, expand/collapse sections, and tab structures. The identity, role and state information that is convey visually is available to assistive technology such as screen readers.
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Example VPAT language
(d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
Does not support
Application includes modal dialogs, expand/collapse sections, and tab structures. The information including identity, operation and state is not provided to assistive technology. Users with visual impairments using screen reader and screen magnifier with speech may have difficulty interacting with these user interface elements.
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HOW TO VERIFY A VPAT
5 Practical Tips
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Tip 1: Review the VPAT language
• Review content for clarity and completeness• Identify inconsistencies• Look for detailed explanations• Understand what the impact would be and who would
be affected
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Tip 2: Run Accessibility Checker
• Many tools available to check underlying code– WAVE toolbar– Sortsite
• Cross-reference reported issues to VPAT
WARNING: Automated tools only capture 25-30% of the accessibility issues on the page
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Tip 3: Try Product with Screen Reader
• Goal of the guidelines is to ensure that it works with assistive technology
• Testing with screen reader will identify issues that all users with disabilities may face– Keyboard only– Navigation structure– Readability of content
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Tip 4: Meet with Company
• Get further insight into details of provisions• Gauge the level of knowledge of the team in Section
508– Did they just copy language from some where else
• Get development plan for areas of non-compliance• Ask questions about the impact the issues identified
would have on a person with a disability
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Tip 5: Get Feedback From Users
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Effectiveness
Efficiency
Learnability Error Prevention
Satisfaction
What do you do?
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Questions?
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Are you accessible?Thank you!
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Kathy WahlbinEmail: [email protected]: 978-443-0798http://www.interactiveaccessibility.com
@wahlbin