Ken Rodgers: Disability Programs Coordinator – ADA Title I/Affirmative Action, Minnesota Department of Transportation

The month of October brings many things, among them significant weather changes and several national commemorations and celebrations.

One national event celebrated this month has particular importance to me personally: National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been the leader in organizing the celebration of and highlighting gains in disability inclusion in employment for more than 70 years. The 2018 NDEAM theme is “America’s Workforce: Empowering All.” What follows is my perspective about the relationship between my job as an ADA Title I Coordinator and the current accessible technology environment.

One of the major tasks of my job is to ensure our employees who experience significant medical conditions or disabilities that interfere with their ability to perform their job duties are able to continue to perform those duties. As I happen to be a person who is totally blind myself, I am only able to independently do my job because of the existence of accessible technology. Likewise, whatever limitations that currently exist within the accessible technologies I use daily have a tremendous effect on how effective and successful I can be.

I consider myself fortunate in several ways: to be employed at a time that major businesses have such a focus on the value of accessibility, and by the fact I work for the State of Minnesota that has declared “accessibility” as a core value.

Awareness of the Importance of Accessibility

Like most people in today’s workforce, my workday revolves around using a computer. In order for me to do that I rely on specialized software known as a screen reader. A screen reader interacts with the coding to provide me with an audio output of the visual content on the computer. In other words, I listen to what most of you see on the screen. Sounds simple enough, right?

In many ways, it certainly does actually seem simple, but this is totally dependent whether the apps, programs, and web sites I use are aware of the need for their content to be accessible. It wasn’t too many years ago that because so few sites or programs were accessible, I was quite limited in my ability to access content. As awareness has improved, including a growing focus on the equally important aspect of USABILITY, encountering barriers is happening less and less. One contributing factor is many technology leaders, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple have promoted their accessibility teams and departments who are responsible to ensure continuing awareness and accessibility of their products. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But at least there are now places to report accessibility problems when encountered that can appropriately ensure the issue is heard and will be followed up.

Two other major technology tools I rely on heavily are the telephone and accessing documents. You might think “how difficult can it be to pick up the phone when it rings or dialing a number to make a call?” But business telephones today are used for much more than for just making and receiving calls. My phone is a small computer that contains a complex flat screen menu system that is not accessible for someone who cannot see. For the last several years I used a third-party software program that has allowed me to access my phone using my desktop computer. I was able to access all the features of my phone through my keyboard. All was great until my desktop was upgraded to Windows 10. My phone software was not compatible with Windows 10 and wouldn’t be until December 2018. Fortunately for me, the latest series of work phones had many basic accessibility features built in. I’m able to have the buttons and controls “speak” to me to help me know where I am and how to select the right function. This is another example of a major technology company that was aware of the importance of accessibility enough to make the business decision to embed accessibility as a regular phone feature.

In my work I often need to read documents, forms, and correspondence including medical documentation. These are usually electronic forms completed online or scanned paper forms. It wasn’t too long ago that PDF formatted documents existed only as ‘image-based’ versions. Screen readers cannot access images, pictures, or graphics so, in the past, when I attempted to read such a document my screen reader would say it was an empty document – it could not “see” the text. Today it is possible to convert an image-based PDF document into a “searchable” version by converting the image to text. Again, as the major technology companies become more aware of the importance of accessibility, these features are being incorporated into the products more routinely, making them tools of choice for someone like me.

Accessibility - A Core Value of the State of Minnesota

One important additional aspect contributing to my being successful at my job working for the State of Minnesota is the fact that accessibility really is a key value promulgated through Governor Mark Dayton’s leadership and our legislative body. Our state leaders realized the importance of accessibility and legislated an accessibility statute that all state agencies must adhere to. Because of the desire of our state leadership to drive the value of transparency and to be accessible to all its stakeholders, the awareness of the need to be accessible is widely adopted throughout state government. Is it perfect? Again, absolutely not! But I am thrilled that we continue to move the dial forward. Often when I encounter issues and problems, I no longer have to convince others of my right to the information.

It is clear to me I would not be able to do my job without the heavy use of accessible assistive technology. But, just as I am supported by advancements in assistive technology, I am also limited by its limitations. Thankfully for me and many, many other employees who live and work with disabilities, the accessibility and usability of assistive technology is getting better. With the continued knowledge, emphasis and understanding of the growing importance of the concepts of accessibility and usability, dare we all hold our collective breaths and expect things to continue to get better with each update? I certainly hope so!