FodnessMemo21

Educators:

1) Do you teach your students about designing software to be accessible to individuals with disabilities? 2) Why (or why not)? 3) (If so) What skills are taught? Is designing for accessibility a core component of the course? 4) Who made the decision whether to include or exclude designing for accessibility? Is it department level or course level? 5) What is your sense of the importance of designing for accessibility in the business world?

Software Engineers:

1) Do you design your software to be accessible to individuals with disabilities? 2) Why or why not? 3) In what ways do you make your software accessible? 4) What ways are you aware of in which your software is not accessible? 5) Who made the decision as to whether to program for accessibility or not? Engineers, management, combination of the two? 6) Do you integrate accessibility into your testing process or in user pools? 7) Have you gotten feedback from individuals with disabilities regarding their ability to use your product? What was that feedback like?

Software Engineers who build software that builds software:

1) Do you design your software so that it creates accessible code? 2) Why or why not? 3) In what ways does it enforce or not enforce standards and accessibility? 4) Who made this decision? 5) Do you integrate accessibility into your testing process or in user pools? 6) Have you gotten feedback from individuals with disabilities regarding their ability to use websites (etc) that are built using your product? What was that feedback like?

YouTube folks:

1) Does your software automatically subtitle videos for the deaf? 2) If not, was this something that you considered during the design phase, or as a possible option for future development? 3) What is the current method for subtitling videos? Is it entirely up to the person who uploads them? 4) If individuals must subtitle their own videos, is there a system-level reminder or warning about the fact that unsubtitled videos will not be able to be used by the deaf? 5) Have you gotten any feedback from individuals with disabilities regarding their ability to use your website? What was that feedback like?

Individuals with Disabilities:

1) What is your disability? 2) Is your disability categorized as a disability outside of an IT context? 3) What is your experience like interacting with IT? 4) What accessibility software do you use? 5) Are there particular programs or sites that are easy to use or difficult to use? 6) Have you ever given feedback to a software company or website that is difficult to use? What was the response like? 7) What is your sense as to how well software companies are designing software to address your particular disability?