It’s in mankind’s nature to build tools to help simplify, quicken or ease the burden of work. Think: wheel, hammer, cotton gin, tractor, assembly line.
The world of software development is no different. For years, developers of software tools have created applications that simplify monotonous development tasks and increase the efficiency of the software life cycle. To accommodate the needs of people with disabilities, various tools have been created to help developers either incorporate accessibility or verify it is included in their products.
The ironic twist about these tools is that, often, they aren’t accessible – persons using assistive technologies (ATs) like screen readers cannot access the information presented by these tools at all or they must go through extraordinary means to do so. Using the tools can be time-consuming and inefficient for persons with disabilities.
The IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center’s own Dr. Michael A. Squillace recently addressed this paradox in a presentation at the California State University at Northridge annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN).
His article focuses on how difficult such tools are to use for the very people they’re trying to help, then discusses an example of a fully accessible and functional accessibility-enablement utility – Accessibility Probe that was built using the Eclipse Accessibility Tools Framework1 (ACTF). Dr. Squillace concludes with tips tools developers can use to create accessible accessibility tools.
1 This project was just given incubation status in October 2007. Its home page is http://www.eclipse.org/actf and the initial project proposal can be found at http://www.eclipse.org/proposals/actf.