© 2009 Oracle Corporation

The Accidental Accessibility Program Director Lessons Learned from 2.5 years on the job Peter Wallack

© 2009 Oracle Corporation About Oracle The world's largest enterprise software company Database, applications, middleware, and services PeopleSoft, Siebel, Hyperion, Agile, BEA, (Sun),… Founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates as Software Development Laboratories First project was to develop a data storage system for the CIA, code- named ‘Oracle’ 74,000 employees Public Sector sales Oracle is the largest applications solutions provider in federal government today Over 100 U.S. federal organizations run Oracle Applications 15 of 15 U.S. federal cabinet-level agencies run Oracle Applications The major Shared Service Providers run Oracle Applications 50 States 24 largest cities

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Accessibility Activity vs. Time Rich Client Interfaces Peoplesoft Lawsuit TEITAC WCAG 2.0 WAI-ARIA Mandate 376 OMB report Acquisitions

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Acquisitions

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Accessibility Activity vs. Time Lesson 1: Quitting on a Friday, only to return to work on Monday morning, is not a very bold statement!

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Oracle’s Accessibility Program

© 2009 Oracle Corporation “Oracle's business is information - how to manage it, use it, share it, protect it. Our commitment to create products that simplify, standardize and automate extends to all users, including users who are disabled.” - Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect "Oracle is committed to creating accessible technologies and products that enhance the overall workplace environment and contribute to the productivity of our employees, our customers, and our customers’ customers." - Safra Catz, President Oracle’s commitment

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Uniform Accessibility Process

© 2009 Oracle Corporation How we address Accessibility Design and Code OGHAG: Oracle Global HTML Accessibility Guidelines Section 508 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 ‘AA’ Standards broken out to improve comprehension Initially written in 2001 Has gone through various revisions to: Simplify Modernize uses WCAG 2.0 language, but does not cover all WCAG 2.0 standards Currently 58 standards Standards interpretation:

© 2009 Oracle Corporation How we address Accessibility Testing Several styles of tests, to cover all 58 standards: Architectural Visual Tool-assisted Jdeveloper audit: locates properties with no content at design time Oracle Accessibility Checker: locates missing content at runtime FireFox plugin: reveals content Manual Testing with AT, such as the JAWS screen reader Testing with Persons with Disabilities

© 2009 Oracle Corporation How we address Accessibility Documentation Must itself be accessible Should include instructions for how to configure and use the product If it is a ‘tool’, should include best practices for how to use it to build accessible output Ideally, there is a chapter or whitepaper that contains all of this content in a single location

© 2009 Oracle Corporation How we address Accessibility VPATs The primary way we communicate product status to customers Central tool to author them Standardized response language Only ‘good’ ones published to and used in sales situations Must indicate good degree of conformance for core functionality on critical standards

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Promoting Accessibility Collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind: Center of Excellence for Enterprise Computing Sharing and review of standards Testing with experts from the NFB Co-presentations at events such as Oracle Open World Sponsorship of NFB Convention, Junior Science Academy, and Youth Slam Awareness Days at Oracle sites Awareness articles Corporate Citizenship report Profit magazine HR outreach to diversity groups

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Lessons Learned

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Executive Management Commitment is essential. But champions within teams are more essential. And sometimes it takes Legal to step in.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation There is something very unique about accessibility.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Standards must be Understandable, Unambiguous, Measurable, Reasonable, and Future-Proof.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Having part of a product meet some of the standards is better than nothing.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation I love automated test tools. I hate automated test tools.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Self-reporting of conformance via the VPAT is vital for enterprise- class products.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Failing a standard does not necessarily mean the product is not accessible.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation The entire accessibility ecosystem must be addressed (a.k.a. anything that can go wrong, will go wrong)

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Some AT could be a whole lot smarter.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Large companies must always be concerned about liability The products being provided under this Agreement are, at the time of delivery, capable of providing comparable access to individuals with disabilities consistent with the applicable provisions of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board standards set out in 36 CFR Part 1194 (known as ‘Section 508’), in effect as of the date of this Agreement, subject to the comments and exceptions (if any) noted on the applicable Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT) (available at for each product, when they are used in accordance with Oracle’s associated documents and other written information, and provided that any assistive technologies and any other products used with them properly interoperate with them.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Hands-on training is essential. You cannot just point people to reference materials about accessibility.

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Do some research before a job interview!

© 2009 Oracle Corporation ACCESSIBLE ^

© 2009 Oracle Corporation Bloopers

Agency CIO to Oracle President: “The product is inaccessible”

© 2009 Oracle Corporation

Paul, his manager, Carla, and another co-worker, Joan are interviewing candidates for an open position. Following the interviews, the three get together to discuss the top candidates. Carla tells the team that although she believes candidate #1 was the most qualified for the position, she does not want to offer her the job because she thinks she might be pregnant and doesn't want to "train her and then have her out on leave for six months." Joan states that she is concerned that the candidate #2 will not "fit well with the group" because he is much older. Carla and Joan therefore want to go with candidate #3. Paul is instructed to contact candidates #1-2 and inform them they will not be receiving an offer. What should Paul do? Click the most appropriate answer. Man talking to 2 women holding chin