[Athen] Request for "facts" on Peoplesoft

[Jean Salzer]

Hi Teresa. Our experience at UW-Milwaukee has been similar: while a 
blind student totally reliant on a screen reader can use the software, 
it is a hassle and takes forever with all the links and drop-down menus. 
So, we end up assisting them, or someone in their family does so.

Jean
Teresa Wells Haven wrote:


>Hi, Gaier.  I agree, and frankly that's the tactic I've been trying to

>take -- that this should be a usability and student service conversation

>rather than a "technical standards and history" debate.  However, the

>system administrator is insisting on keeping it in the legal realm and

>blaming the students for the problem, and the students who so far have

>been brave enough to go up the food chain have gotten brow-beaten for

>their efforts, so I don't want to subject them to more of the same.  At

>this point, I'm trying to gather evidence from every possible area, so

>any and all "facts" that folks can share would be appreciated.  As you

>can imagine, this is a multi-million-dollar issue for the campus, so the

>person in charge of that feels that he has a great deal to defend and is

>reacting accordingly...

>

>Teresa

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

>Behalf Of Gaeir Dietrich

>Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 2:26 PM

>To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'

>Subject: Re: [Athen] Request for "facts" on Peoplesoft

>

>

>It sounds like your best evidence is the students themselves, not

>reporting about the students' experiences but actually taking the

>students into the office to tell in their own words, and maybe even

>demonstrate, the problems they are having.

>

>Your administrators are asking for "facts," but I suspect that an actual

>tuition-paying student is better than pages of "old" (anything before

>today) cases.

>

>Good luck!

>

>******************************************************

>Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich

>High Tech Center Training Unit of the

>California Community Colleges

>De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

>www.htctu.net

>408-996-6043

>-----Original Message-----

>From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

>Behalf Of Teresa Wells Haven

>Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 12:08 PM

>To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'

>Subject: [Athen] Request for "facts" on Peoplesoft

>Importance: High

>

>Colleagues, I am in a "discussion" with a member of my university

>administration who does not want to believe me that PeopleSoft has a

>history of difficulties with accessibility.  He would like me to

>substantiate my dislike for Peoplesoft, and not surprisingly, a Google

>search tends to come up with PeopleSoft's own statements on the matter

>("We've been working on this for years," "We conform to Section 508

>regulations") rather than anything contradictory.  Does anyone have

>anything in the way of "hard evidence" of PeopleSoft's past that I could

>share with him -- records of court cases, complaints against the

>company, etc.?  The more recent, the better, since he is going to take

>the stance that they may have had problems in the past but that doesn't

>mean they have a problem now, although it won't hurt to show him a long

>history of company problems.

> 

>To give you a taste of this "discussion", we currently use a PeopleSoft

>product on our campus as our Student Information System.  Students who

>use screen readers have so much difficulty that most of them get sighted

>people to interface with the system for them; I've been complaining

>about the system since we implemented it several years ago.  The

>administrator in question downloaded a demo copy of JAWS last week and

>used it to "read" a page (he merely listened to the text while he

>visually looked at the screen), at which point he concluded that the

>program works "just fine" with JAWS and all the students are really just

>having either JAWS technical problems or don't have the necessary JAWS

>skills to interact with the program (something he didn't even try for

>himself, since "he's not a JAWS expert").  This "discussion" is flaming

>up to the Chancellor level very rapidly, so I'd appreciate quick

>responses if you have them...

> 

>Thank you in advance,

>Teresa

> 

>+++++++++++++++++++++

>Teresa Wells Haven, Ph.D.

>Assistant Director for Assistive Technology

>Center for Educational Access

>(Formerly Center for Students with Disabilities)

>ARKU 104

>University of Arkansas

>Fayetteville, AR 72701

>479-575-3104 (voice)

>479-575-7445 (fax)

>479-575-3646 (tdd)

>ada at uark.edu

>+++++++++++++++++++++

> 

>

>

>

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