Expert opinion on accessibility
Ensuring accessibility is becoming increasingly important as digitalization progresses and laws are enacted.
Section 12 of the Disability Equality Act obliges public services to only introduce accessible IT products. However, commercial enterprises are also required by the Social Code to take into account the needs of employees with disabilities when introducing IT products. As a result, software manufacturers are under increasing pressure to make their applications accessible.
Our reports are not standardized but are individually tailored for each client. This allows us to make precise statements about accessibility and ensure it. Our IT experts have been specially trained in-house to assess accessibility and possess unique expertise that is unmatched in the market.
Our experts prepare accessibility reports for you on:
- Client applications
- Web applications
- Websites
- Documents
Our Four-Step Model
Our IT experts prepare the reports based on Papenmeier Consulting’s proven Four-Step Model. This guarantees you a consistent evaluation process.
Workflow-Check
In the first phase, the workflow of the application is reviewed with an experienced user or identified using a training guide. This enables our experts to later assess the actual work process accordingly.
Verification
During this phase, the current state of accessibility and usability is determined based on the relevant accessibility criteria. The application or document is tested using assistive technologies and specialized evaluation tools within the previously defined workflow to identify deficiencies, which are then specified in the next phase.
Analysis and Documentation
In the penultimate phase, anomalies identified during verification are examined in greater detail and evaluated against the requirements of BITV 2.0, WCAG 2.0, and DIN EN ISO 9241. Any deviations are documented and described in detail. To aid understanding, each deviation is also illustrated with screenshots in the report.
Assessment
Since each impairment comes with different needs, we assess accessibility based on specific criteria for the respective type of impairment. This prevents generalized and thus inaccurate overall statements about accessibility. Through this differentiated evaluation, our clients receive a more precise and in-depth report that enables targeted improvements to optimize accessibility and avoids significant additional effort.The following impairments are considered in the reports:
The following impairments are considered in the reports:
- Motor impairments
- Hearing impairments
- Blindness
- Visual impairments