[Rd] ADA Compliance

[J C Nash]

Slightly tangential, but about two decades ago I was researching
how multimedia databases might be reasonably structured. To have a
concrete test case, I built a database of English Country (Playford)
dances, which I called Playford's Progeny. (Ben B. will be aware of
this, too.) This proved rather popular, but around 2010 the busybody
brigade at uOttawa sent me a demand to prove that the website satisfied
(name your jurisdiction, I think mine was Ontario provincial something)
accessibility requirements.

I figured my time to do this was worth $2-3K and simply went out and
bought service for about $100. It's now hosted on ottawaenglishdance.org.
Interestingly the main contributor to my site at the time was blind.
Go figure.

The point I'm getting at is that it may make people feel good to
legislate about accessibility, but my guess is the old adage of
catching more flies with honey than vinegar is illustrated here to a
horrifying degree. I'm afraid I've no practical advice on how to
satisfy the "rules".

Best of luck getting things available for as many folk as possible,
no matter their particular disabilities. It's something I support,
just not a lot of rules.

JN


On 2024-01-15 07:10, peter dalgaard wrote:
> Yes,
> 
> Jonathon Godfrey, who wrote the r-devel/2022-December mail (and is himself blind), would be my standard go-to guy in matters relating to visual impairment, screen readers and all that.
> 
> Peter D.
> 
>> On 13 Jan 2024, at 00:14 , Ben Bolker <bbolker using gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I would be very surprised if anyone had written up a VPAT <https://www.section508.gov/sell/vpat/> for R.
>>
>>   It won't help you with the bureaucratic requirements, but R is in fact very accessible to visually impaired users: e.g. see
>>
>> https://community.rstudio.com/t/accessibility-of-r-rstudio-compared-to-excel-for-student-that-is-legally-blind/103849/3
>>
>>  From https://github.com/ajrgodfrey/BrailleR
>>
>>> R is perhaps the most blind-friendly statistical software option because all scripts can be written in plain text, using the text editor a user prefers, and all output can be saved in a wide range of file formats. The advent of R markdown and other reproducible research techniques can offer the blind user a degree of efficiency that is not offered in many other statistical software options. In addition, the processed Rmd files are usually HTML which are the best supported files in terms of screen reader development.
>>
>>   (And there is continued attention to making sure R stays accessible in this way: https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2022-December/082180.html; https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2023-February/082313.html)
>>
>>   R is also easy to use without a mouse, which should improve accessibility for users with neuromuscular conditions.
>>
>>    cheers
>>     Ben Bolker
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2024-01-12 2:50 p.m., Hunter, Zayne via R-devel wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> I am working with Ball State University to obtain a license of R. As part of our requirements for obtaining new software, we must review the VPAT for ADA compliance. Can you provide this information for me?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Zayne Hunter
>>> Technology Advisor & Vendor Relations Manager
>>> Ball State University
>>> zayne.hunter using bsu.edu
>>> (765)285-7853
>>> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-devel using r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>
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