| | Ask HN: How to get an accessibility tester job as a blind programmer? | |
80 points by blindprogrammer 3 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 14 comments
| | I want to test accessibility for apps and websites as a job. I regularly use pretty much all screen readers except Orca, I use VoiceOver for anything Apple makes, JAWS or NVDA anything Windows, and Talkback in Android. I haven’t had a formal education on accessibility, but I use these screen readers to navigate websites and apps daily, so my skills is pretty good. I also like coding in Java, I love that language, I consider Java the best language since C. I only code in Java, because I can’t C (a little joke). So, if you have an app that you want their accessibility tested, let me know I will do that for you: I currently only own iPhone, though. So, HN, who wants their accessibility tested for their website or apps for blind people or low-vision people? | |
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We (Olark YC S09) are in the process of building out a fully accessible platform for realtime communication (live chat, bots/automations) for both agents and visitors, and regularly work with folks to help our team test and improve our work -- it's still early days Progress Not Perfection :). I am definitely interesting in talking, you can apply as a tester here:
https://www.olark.com/ada-accessible-live-chat And you can ping me personally on Linkedin if you want to chat more. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencongleton) We work with both individuals often as contractors, and agencies as well. You might want to talk to the folks at lighthouse SF, they do consulting for a lot of tech companies, and have a matching program, I am actually going to be at their offices Thursday, so I can follow up with best way to get in touch, but I'd assume the emails on the below link will get you what you need.
https://lighthouse-sf.org/programs/access-technology/ And we've also worked with Fable who manages engagements like what you are looking for:
https://makeitfable.com/community/
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Write about your work. Post it everywhere. LinkedIn, Reddit, your blog. Start every post saying your looking for work.
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You may want to reach out to Dr. Sile O’Modhrain ( https://smtd.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/sile-omodhrain/). She is a highly experienced blind researcher & a co-founder of NewHaptics, a tactile display startup (https://www.newhaptics.com/). Even if you want to focus on accessibility testing rather than hardware, Dr. O'Modhrain may be able to connect you with useful guidance. I would also mention your programming experience in case NewHaptics is looking for someone to help with testing hardware, firmware, or drivers.
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When I've done frontend work for government agencies, we have contacted the national association for blind people in my country, and gotten help from them (Norges Blindeforbund / The Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted). Could you perhaps reach out to a similar organization where you live and tell them of your services, so that when others reach out to that organization for help they can refer them to you?
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Maybe one of the crowd testing platforms? what you offer, accessibility testing for vision impaired people, is important and (should be) done in every company for every product an iteration but in reality it is quite rare. A company don't test accessibility for every small change and release, so you'll need to either find a team with a lot of products or offer your services to different clients.
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I worked alongside a blind programmer in one of my past teams and AFAIK the company hired him as a consultant and found him through his work in my country's organization for blind people. I'd highly recommend joining such a group in your area as it seems likely they will be able to get you in touch with companies. If the group is at least somewhat big, chances are they'd have been approached by companies before. (They had been? They'll have been? I am not sure what tense to use. ESL)
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One blind accessibility tester i had the pleasure working with got his position at a national government agency by sending a complaint about the poor accessibility for blind people on their websites. The response was an invitation to a job interview!
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Have you tried working freelance? I've had several big projects in the past where we've had accessibility requirements to meet and it always involves training testers and developers in the tools. I'd have happily paid a someone to consult on best approaches, run the tests, maybe train a few people to keep it going.
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As far as I know, there are special agencies that help companies or government agencies with their accessibility goals. I assume they have a more diverse set of employees and would be open to hire you. When I looked into hiring someone for a company directly, I was told that because of HIPAA laws you cannot advertise „we want to hire blind programmer“.
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I develop a FOSS project that prioritizes accessibility, and I haven't had any screenreader testing in a hot minute. I would appreciate even a little bit of testing. How can one contact you?
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I am currently working alongside blind/vision impaired persons that are auditing/coding web sites for accessibility. Do you live in Belgium by any chance ?
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Your joke was good, alas my sense of humor is a little rusty. Hopefully my delivery there sounded good on your end, I have no helpful advice but best of luck!
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