Earlier this year the blindness community finally had enough with companies claiming to provide accessible overlays to make sites more user friendly. We took note of the increasing protests and did our part to mitigate these barriers that, in some cases, would not give users the ability to bypass their intrusion. To date, none of the services we blocked through our extension have changed their methodology. Last week we received a message from a representative from Max Access. We offer that exchange here, not as an attempt to shame any one company, but rather as an explanation to clarify our position to any other service curious about why we have blocked them. We remain optimistic that such services will choose to work with the blindness community rather than apply solutions they think are best for us. We do not appreciate this sort of custodial treatment. We also do not relish blocking innovation and would rather collaborate to make artificial intelligence work for the benefit of all. The exchange follows: Original message from Annie H: Hello! I'm the lead accessibility auditor with Online ADA; we recently realized that our automated remediation product, Max Access, is one … [Read more...] about Continuing Dialogue on Accessibility Overlays
Accessibility
An Open Letter to Cloudflare
We never relish using public forums to call out companies guilty of leaving customers behind. In this case, our attempts at communication have gone unanswered. It’s not lack of awareness on their part; we alerted them eighteen months ago the service they were designing would not be accessible. The CEO reaffirmed his company’s mission, but as of today, the service they released is as inaccessible as we predicted. Having exhausted other alternatives, I published an open letter to Cloudflare. Below is a copy of that letter for your awareness. If anyone cares to follow or contribute to a discussion thread on the subject, you can participate here. Cloudflare's inaccessible browser contradicts the company's mission An open letter to Matthew Prince, CEO, Cloudflare by Matt Campbell July 30, 2021 Mr. Prince: About four months ago, Cloudflare launched Browser Isolation during Security Week, without ensuring that the product is accessible to blind people using screen readers. Now, four months later, this problem is still not solved. Cloudflare’s neglect of accessibility in this product raises a new barrier to employment for blind people as companies adopt this product to improve the … [Read more...] about An Open Letter to Cloudflare
The Line Between Ignorance and Stupidity: My Experience with the Pit Boss 1150 PRO
This past March I purchased a Pit Boss Pro Series II 1150 grill at Lowes. Like others tired of being cooped up for a year of Covid restrictions, I was getting ready for the summer heat and many days spent in the pool, grilling in the Florida sun, in the company of friends and family. I chose this brand and model because it was said to be a solidly built product, had great reviews, and best of all a great value for the price. The smart technology features were important to me because most pellet grills have inaccessible digital LED control panels. I have previously owned a Green Mountain Grills smart pellet grill that did the trick at the time, but for the combination of reasons above I moved to the Pit Boss. I figured the companion app to the 1150 would be perfect to be able to grill independently using my iPhone and the included VoiceOver screen reader. When I finally got the grill delivered and began to set it up on my network, I discovered the app was not accessible for blind people using the iPhone. You see, I had no way to know if the app was accessible until I connected it to a grill, something that can’t always be done in a store, especially with a grill. It was … [Read more...] about The Line Between Ignorance and Stupidity: My Experience with the Pit Boss 1150 PRO
