Understanding mindsets, skills, current practices, and barriers of adoption of digital accessibility in Kuwait’s software development landscape
Abstrak
The responsibility for creating accessible software within the development of digital services is important for multiple reasons, mainly equity and inclusion. However, adopting and sustaining the development of accessible digital solutions has always been challenging, more so in countries that are relatively new to the concept of universal design, and physical and digital accessibility, and where legal sanctions are not yet established. This work investigates the technology scene in the State of Kuwait and analyses the responses of computing professionals with regard to their skills, best practices and procurement of accessible tech and to their level of awareness toward people with disabilities. The findings reveal a low level of awareness among tech professionals with regard to disabilities and digital accessibility-related standards. The findings also highlight a lack of available guidance for developing inclusive design and accessibility. Additionally, time constraints, lack of training, legal enforcement and fundamentals concepts during undergraduate and higher education contributed to observed weaknesses. Participants were keen to learn more and benefited from flyers and free professional development courses offered as incentives for survey completion.
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In recent years, there has been rising interest from both governments and private industry in developing software that is accessible to all, including people with disabilities. However, the computer science (CS) courses that ought to prepare future professionals to develop such accessible software hardly cover topics related to accessibility. While there is growing literature on incorporating accessibility topics in computing education in the West, there is little work on this in the Global South, particularly in India, which has a large number of computing students and software professionals. In this replication report, we present (A) our findings from a replication of surveys used in the US and Switzerland on who teaches accessibility and barriers to teaching accessibility and (B) a qualitative analysis of perceptions of CS faculty in India about digital accessibility and teaching accessibility. Our study corroborates the findings of the earlier surveys: very few CS faculty teach accessibility, and the top barriers they perceive are the same. The qualitative analysis further reveals that the faculty in India need training on accessibility concepts and disabilities sensitization, and exposure to existing and ongoing CS education research and pedagogies. In light of these findings, we present recommendations aimed at addressing these challenges and enhancing the integration of accessibility into computing education.
Ingrid Teixeira Monteiro Erik Henrique Da Costa Nunes Enyo Gonçalves + 1 lainnya
16 Oktober 2023
In 2015, Brazil enacted Law No. 13,146 (Statute of Persons with Disabilities), establishing a new range of rights for people with disabilities. Among the changes made was the inclusion of good practices in the concept of accessibility, including the digital realm. This paper presents the results of a Systematic Literature Review regarding the works presented at the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems from 2016 to 2022, with the aim of evaluating the impact of Digital Accessibility initiatives after the enactment of the mentioned law. The objective is to reveal part of the event’s history, highlighting the needs imposed by the law. The study analyzed 406 papers from the event deposited in the ACM Digial Library, selecting 91 of them (22.4%). The results showed that visual impairment is the most addressed theme, present in 33 papers (36.2%). Also, there are 254 different researchers working on this topic in Brazil and other countries. Surprisingly, only 21 (23%) of the papers mention any laws, showing that there is neglect or lack of knowledge regarding Brazilian laws on accessibility.
Richard E. Ladner Brianna Blaser
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E. J. Edwards Isabela Figueira Joshua Garcia + 4 lainnya
11 Mei 2024
Scholars have investigated numerous barriers to accessible software development tools and processes for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) developers. However, the research community has yet to study the accessibility of software development meetings, which are known to play a crucial role in software development practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 BLV software professionals about software development meeting accessibility. We found four key themes related to in-person and remote software development meetings: (1) participants observed that certain meeting activities and software tools used in meetings were inaccessible, (2) participants performed additional labor in order to make meetings accessible, (3) participants avoided disclosing their disability during meetings due to fear of career repercussions, (4) participants suggested technical, social and organizational solutions for accessible meetings, including developing their own solutions. We suggest recommendations and design implications for future accessible software development meetings including technical and policy-driven solutions.
S. Malek Ziyao He Syed Fatiul Huq + 1 lainnya
19 April 2023
It is crucial to make software, with its ever-growing influence on everyday lives, accessible to all, including people with disabilities. Despite promoting software accessibility through government regulations, development guidelines, tools and frameworks, investigations reveal a marketplace of inaccessible web and mobile applications. To better understand the limitations of contemporary software industry in adopting accessibility practices, it is necessary to construct a holistic view that combines the perspectives of software practitioners, stakeholders and end users. In this paper, we collect 637 conversations from Twitter to synthesize and qualitatively analyze discussions posted about software accessibility. Our findings observe an active community that provides feedback on inaccessible software, shares personal accounts of development practices and advocates for inclusivity. By perceiving software accessibility from process, profession and people viewpoints, we present current conventions, challenges and possible resolutions with four emergent themes: cost and incentives, awareness and advocacy, technology and resources, and integration and inclusion.
Daftar Referensi
2 referensiWhat Do We Mean by “Accessibility Research”?: A Literature Survey of Accessibility Papers in CHI and ASSETS from 1994 to 2019
Leah Findlater Kelly Avery Mack + 4 lainnya
12 Januari 2021
Accessibility research has grown substantially in the past few decades, yet there has been no literature review of the field. To understand current and historical trends, we created and analyzed a dataset of accessibility papers appearing at CHI and ASSETS since ASSETS’ founding in 1994. We qualitatively coded areas of focus and methodological decisions for the past 10 years (2010-2019, N=506 papers), and analyzed paper counts and keywords over the full 26 years (N=836 papers). Our findings highlight areas that have received disproportionate attention and those that are underserved—for example, over 43% of papers in the past 10 years are on accessibility for blind and low vision people. We also capture common study characteristics, such as the roles of disabled and nondisabled participants as well as sample sizes (e.g., a median of 13 for participant groups with disabilities and older adults). We close by critically reflecting on gaps in the literature and offering guidance for future work in the field.
Understanding the Motivations of Final-year Computing Undergraduates for Considering Accessibility
Qiwen Zhao Rachel Celestine + 6 lainnya
19 April 2020
We investigate the degree to which undergraduate computing students in a United States university consider accessibility several years after instruction. Prior work has found that cultural and ethical norms become ingrained early in STEM professionals’ careers; so, we focus on students approaching graduation and after an internship experience, who are just getting started in their career. In semi-structured interviews, a majority of these final-year computing students (14 of 16) indicated that they were not motivated to improve their skills in accessibility, attributing this to not being required to consider accessibility in subsequent work or classes, not seeing accessibility as an essential skill in their profession, and challenges due to a learn-it-on-your-own approach in computing. Participants suggested instructional methods and topics that they believed would have better prepared them for considering accessibility. A survey of 114 additional final-year students revealed similar themes, including that students did not personally view accessibility training as essential career preparation. Prior research has largely focused on evaluating short-term changes in students’ knowledge after an educational intervention. Therefore, by focusing on students several years after an intervention, this work highlights lingering barriers for university programs in promoting accessibility among rising computing professionals.
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