Looking for an accessibility testing firm is often a hurdle that organizations encounter. There are numerous software testing firms who also offer accessibility testing or accessibility audit and then you will find that there are specialized firms that focus on accessibility testing.
How do you evaluate what is better?
Some factors to consider when evaluating an offshore accessibility testing firm are :
What is their level of knowledge on Accessibility:
What is the depth of the knowledge about accessibility in the organization? A good place to start would be to see if the vendors own website is accessible. Numerous companies offer accessibility services as one of their many service offerings but do they walk the talk.
After 20 years in accessibility, I can tell you that accessibility is something that you start to live in breathe. The guidelines are only starting point and the goal should be to go beyond compliance.
Experience in conducting accessibility testing:
Get to know more about the number of projects, the type of technologies, the different standards they have worked with, the scale of the projects and the type of customers they have serviced.
These questions will allow you to understand the level of experience in accessibility testing. Accessibility and is really not about the checklist. It is about an interpretation of the guidelines based on how something is developed.
Does the team comprise of people with disabilities?
“Nothing without us“ – Ask them about the team and how there including people with disabilities as a part of the testing process.
Even though I have been testing using assistive technology since the last 20 years, I would yet lean to the experience of my disabled colleagues. The reason is very simple, I am not a native screen reader or assistive technology user.
I would go so far as to say that accessibility is a specialization. You get better at it with experience.
At BarrierBreak, I have often been asked why we don’t do any other type of testing.
When I founded BarrierBreak, we were a technical writing and an accessibility consulting firm. I soon realized the importance of a specialization.
We are passionate about accessibility, people with disabilities matter to us, we want to make the world more accessible, we see technology as a game changer, and we believe in inclusion. 50% of the accessibility testing team being people with disabilities.
Meet Shilpi Kapoor for a 1 hour tête-à-tête focused discussion on accessibility for a personalised advice to forward your organisations accessibility journey.