With efforts to update the federal requirements stalled in Congress, software accessibility standards remain limited under the ADA and subject to a confusing mix of court precedents and government guidelines that can vary by state, leaving some digital technology in a legal gray area. — Unsplash
When Emeline Lakrout quit her job at Unilever Plc in March after five years with the company, it wasn’t for a better offer or a career pivot. She left, she said, because too much of the software she needed in her marketing role was inaccessible to her as a blind user and invisible to her screen reader.
If coworkers asked her to use Trello, a project management tool made by Atlassian Corp, she would politely request alternatives. Software from Anaplan Inc, a company owned by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo, forced her to squint centimeters from a giant monitor, straining her remaining vision. And working on slide decks was especially vexing when her screen reader viewed slide content as images instead of text, often out of order, making presentations hard to create and decipher.
