How to deal with visual Impairments in the Workplace

I wrote this article for a German-Language paper. Please note that all references are based on German regulations.

Article Content

Introduction

In this article I would like to show what difficulties visually impaired people can encounter in the workplace.

The first part will be about what visual impairment actually is and what consequences it can have. The second part deals with legal requirements. The third part shows what different aids the visually impaired can use. At the end I would like to show what general precautions employers can take.

I leave out factors that the employer basically cannot influence. If workplaces are not easily accessible by public transport, they are not attractive for visually impaired people. Visually impaired people generally do not have access to a car, and bicycles and other alternative kinds of transport are usually not usable for them. The employer can also rarely design the area surrounding the work site. Complex intersections without regulated pedestrian crossings or acoustic traffic lights can pose a major risk of accidents.

Definition and usage

Visual impairment includes a whole range of eye diseases. For the topic discussed here, however, the medical illnesses are less relevant than the resulting consequences. Visual impairments are primarily attributed to the factors of visual acuity and field of vision. In the “What is visual impairment” section, I will discuss these factors and their effects in more detail.

In addition to the personal computer, there are numerous other devices with visual user interfaces that can play a role in professional life. Smartphones are important, but also terminals for time recording or displays that provide information to employees. For the sake of simplicity, I speak of terminals when such devices are meant in general.

The workplace is the place where a person works, usually an office workplace. The work environment is the wider environment that is necessary for work, i.e. the building and grounds. What is important are the kitchens, common and conference rooms and other rooms that the employee can or must use. Other factors such as accessibility by public transport or a canteen could also be included, but here the employer usually has limited or no influence on their design.

When we talk about software, we basically mean all types of applications. Applications can be native smartphone apps, desktop programs or web applications running in the browser.

What does visual impairment and blindness mean?

Basically, two approaches are relevant to defining visual impairment.

There is a medical perspective. Eye diseases are classified there according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

There is also the social law consideration. There they try to assess the effects of an illness on the everyday life of the person affected. The basis for this is in Germany the Health Care Medicine Ordinance and the Social Security Code IX.

In practice, it is less the illnesses that are relevant than their specific effects. Three main factors can be identified:

  • Reduced visual acuity - means that small objects can be recognized poorly or not at all.
  • A reduced or incomplete field of vision means that only small areas of the retina can be seen clearly. The result is that objects, graphical user interfaces or environments cannot be captured at a glance.
  • Reduced color and contrast perception can lead to colors, color differences and content with low contrast are difficult or impossible to recognize.

These three effects can also occur in combination.

In general, three groups of visual impairments can be distinguished:

  • Anyone who can see 33 percent or less in their better eye despite visual aids such as contact lenses or glasses is considered visually impaired.
  • A person is considered to be severely visually impaired if they can see between 2 and 5 percent in their better eye with visual aids such as glasses or contact lenses.
  • Anyone who sees less than 2 percent is considered legally blind.

There are also people whose vision is severely reduced but who are not considered visually impaired. As a rule, these people are not entitled to any aids.

Among the blind, a distinction is made between completely blind people and blind people with limited vision - in the blind community the latter are referred to as "visually impaired people". People are said to be legally blind because the difference in residual vision can be significant. While visually impaired people work predominantly visually on the computer and completely blind people can only work non-visually, visually impaired people move between these two areas. It may be that they can still work visually on the computer, but are otherwise blind.

It is also important whether a disability exists from birth or only occurred or increased after childhood. If the disability exists from birth, the person affected has already developed strategies and can usually deal better with the consequences of the disability. As a rule of thumb, the later in life a disability occurs, the greater its impact.

Visual impairments have increased in recent years and will continue to increase in the future due to demographic change. At the same time, more and more workplaces are being equipped with digital interfaces. There is already hardly a job today that does not require working on a computer at least some of the time.

The spectrum of visual impairments is wide. Many visual impairments can initially go unnoticed by those affected and others because their vision gradually deteriorates. It is also said that visual impairments are confused with typical abnormalities associated with age, such as dementia. For example, a visually impaired person has difficulty recognizing people by their appearance or finding objects. The same thing can happen to a person with dementia.

Inappropriate equipment in the workplace leads to health problems in the medium term. It has a negative effect on the eyes and the posture system due to the hunched posture. That's why it generally makes sense to make vision-friendly arrangements for all employees.

Legal basis

In the following section I would like to look at the legal basis.

Disability and compensation for disadvantages

A disability must be proven in order to be entitled to so-called compensation for disadvantages. Compensation for disadvantages are benefits that are granted to people with disabilities upon request. Most of these benefits are laid down in Book IX of the Social Code.

The assistance relevant to professional activity is called benefits for participation in working life. Depending on the living situation of the visually impaired person, they are granted by various bodies such as the employment agency, the integration office or the pension insurance. These bodies are referred to below as cost bearers.

In order to have a disability recognized, it must be documented by a doctor. An application is then submitted to the responsible pension office. If the disability is recognized, a degree of disability (GdB) between 10 and 100 is determined. If you have a GdB of 50 or more, you are considered severely disabled and receive a severely disabled person's ID card.

What restrictions arise from the visual impairment are relevant to the degree of disability. So it is not the case that you get a certain GdB with a certain eye disease. The principles for this are presented in the Health Care Medicine Ordinance.

Most compensation for disadvantages for people with disabilities can only be applied for once they have status as a severely disabled person. However, there is the possibility of being equated with a severely disabled person with a GdB of 30 or 40. With equality, you can achieve similar rights in working life as a severely disabled person. People who are threatened with dismissal because of their disability or who can be helped by equality to find a job have a right to equality.

In order to receive benefits for participation in working life, it is necessary that the person is employed subject to social insurance contributions. According to the current situation, the assistance is not granted for mini-jobs or voluntary work.

Section 49 of SGB IX provides for some benefits for disabled people, including the financing of necessary aids at work or work assistants, i.e. people who support the visually impaired at work.

Section 50 SGB IX also mentions benefits for employers who employ people with severe disabilities. This includes:

  • Training grants
  • Integration grants
  • Grants for work aids in the company
  • Reimbursement of costs for trial employment

Benefits for participation in working life are decisions made on a case-by-case basis. This means that certain things are not granted across the board or not. Rather, the responsible cost bearer usually checks on site what help is necessary. The employer then applies for this assistance to the payer.

The procedure has advantages and disadvantages: One disadvantage is that the procedure can be complicated and time-consuming. One advantage is that the employer can apply for a wide variety of assistance, for example funds for renovation measures, if the necessity and connection to the employee's work can be proven. It should be noted, however, that the payer does not always cover the entire cost, but can also provide subsidies. The payer can argue, for example, that a conversion would also benefit other employees or that certain measures would also be necessary for non-disabled employees.

Months often pass between the application for aids and the approval and installation of the aids. This can significantly reduce a disabled person's job chances. A non-disabled person does not need any complex adjustments and can therefore often start working at short notice.

Many companies also complain that the help system is too complex and the ordering process is too time-consuming. Smaller companies in particular find it difficult to handle the applications in terms of staff.

Accessibility regulations

The term accessibility is not firmly defined. We find general requirements in the Disability Equality Act, especially in Sections 7 and 12.

In general, there are different guidelines and standards for digital accessibility. On the one hand, there are the Web Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Even though they have the word "Web" in their name, they can also be applied to other areas such as software or documents. The WCAG are defined in a technology-agnostic way, which means that they should in principle be applicable to all graphical user interfaces. The WCAG are formulated into testable criteria, so-called Success Criteria. This means that, in principle, only requirements whose fulfillment can be verified are included. The WCAG are accepted worldwide and most national regulations and standards for digital accessibility are based on them.

The EU standard EN 301 549 also plays an important role. This standard defines requirements for various digital systems.

Accessibility is also important for documents. For example, particularly legible fonts, high-contrast colors for the background and font color, or easily recognizable information graphics can be important here. WCAG and EN 301549 can also be applied in this area.

What does accessibility mean for the visually impaired?

As shown above, there are many different visual impairments and the needs that arise from them. In general, however, some factors can be identified that can be applied to all forms of visual impairment. At this point it makes sense to pay particular attention to the accessibility standards. So you don't have to think about what makes sense for accessibility, but you can apply the existing standards. There is nothing wrong with going beyond the standards or offering individual help, but the standards should always be applied.

Three factors are particularly important for the visually impaired:

  • The software should work with assistive technologies. This must be taken into account when programming. This means, for example, that operating system settings for the size and display of control elements are adopted.
  • All elements should have good contrast with the background. Otherwise they and their task cannot be easily recognized.
  • All elements should be accessible and operable via keyboard. The keyboard focus should be clearly visible.

Aids and assistive technologies

Many visually impaired people work on computers with assistive technologies. As described above, these aids or assistive technologies are usually covered by the funding bodies. There are a large number of different aids. Many of these are presented at the annual SightCity trade fair.

All aids that visually impaired people use to compensate for their disability are referred to as aids or assistive technologies. There are tools that are used independently of a computer (we call them technical tools) as well as software that is used on the computer as additional help.

In general, two types of computer aids can be distinguished:

  • Aids integrated into the operating systems; they are referred to below as integrated aids
  • external tools, they are called dedicated tools in this article

Numerous configurations can be made in the operating system itself to increase visibility and usability. The font size, the font and background color, the size and visibility of the mouse cursor and a few more things can be individually configured. Numerous factors can also be configured in browsers using various options. In Mozilla Firefox, for example, you can preset your own fonts, colors and sizes. This overwrites the default settings on the website.

It should be noted, however, that whether these settings work properly depends heavily on how the application is programmed. It may be that the application is no longer recognizable or works not correctly if the user has defined their own layouts. Software does not always adopt the operating system settings and then remain in the original layout.

Integrated tools

While integrated tools led a shadowy existence for a long time, the major providers of popular operating systems have begun to systematically expand them in recent years. This is mainly because there are very strict requirements in the Anglo-American region. Both PC and mobile operating systems now have very sophisticated technologies.

These options are particularly advantageous for people with milder visual impairments. You can work on the computer right from the start and don't have to wait for requested aids or internal IT.

However, these integrated aids quickly reach their limits when visual impairments are severe or very specific. Here you usually have to rely on dedicated tools.

With tablets and smartphones, you usually use the integrated tools. They are sufficient for most tasks that visually impaired people perform on their smartphones. Unlike desktop computers, there are few alternative providers of assistive technologies in the mobile sector.

Even if the integrated aids are generally becoming more efficient, special solutions are still needed. Since the development of assistive technologies is complex and not commercially attractive, primarily basic functions are provided. More specific functions or adjustments are primarily possible with dedicated help.

As shown above, assistive technologies are highly personalized. As a rule of thumb, the more intensive the work on the computer, the higher the degree of individual adaptation. These adjustments are only possible if they are allowed by the system.

It is therefore not foreseeable that the basic functions of operating systems will be sufficient in all cases. Special software will be needed until further notice. However, basic functions also make things easier. They help in places where the external assistive technology does not work correctly. In addition, it can always happen that software does not work together in a certain constellation and does in another. That's why it's always helpful to have at least two options for assistive software.

Dedicated tools

As mentioned above, dedicated utilities are programs that need to be installed additionally.

For visually impaired people these are usually screen magnifiers.

The dedicated screen magnifiers have some special features. For example, magnification levels can be adjusted more finely. There are specific settings for the mouse cursor. Another special feature is that they allow your own color settings. Depending on the visual impairment, color inversion may not be sufficient; the person may instead have to rely on very special configurations of the font and background color.

The screen magnifier can provide other important adjustments. For example, especially at high enlargements, text can quickly become blurry. The screen magnifiers can sometimes better compensate for these factors. Some screen magnifiers can also read text with an electronic voice.

However, it can happen that the client software does not always work properly with the assistive technology.

Visually impaired people may have higher demands on PC monitors. A particularly good color representation or the size of the monitor can be relevant. With monitors, it can also be important to move them very close to your face. There are so-called monitor swivel arms for this. The monitor is attached to a movable metal arm, which is in turn attached to a table. The distance and height of the monitor can be adjusted flexibly using the arm. With reduced visual acuity, it is usually difficult for a visually impaired person to work on a notebook without an external monitor. Due to the notebook unit, the notebook monitor is too far away and the viewing angle when leaning forward is very unfavorable.

There are also special PC keyboards for blind people. The letters are displayed particularly large and with high contrast, or important keys are marked.

Technical aids

Glasses or special contact lenses can also be counted as aids. Depending on your visual impairment, there are very specific requirements for the lenses, such as a special tint. These glasses often cost several hundred euros. The costs for this are rarely fully covered by health insurance. If the visually impaired person can prove that they are dependent on glasses for their work, they can apply for a subsidy for the costs from the provider of working life benefits.

Screen reading systems are special devices for enlarged display of printed text. They usually consist of a camera with its own lighting and a movable base on which printed texts are stored and moved. The enlarged text can be transferred to a monitor. Like PC screen magnifiers, they also have numerous color modes and visual setting options.

There are also classic and electronic magnifying glass systems. They are intended for mobile use. Magnifying glasses can be used to read printed texts or take a closer look at images such as information graphics. Classic magnifying glasses do not require electricity. Electronic magnifying glasses can provide additional features such as integrated lighting and digital zoom.

Special lamps can also be important. There are lamps with glare-free light that can be specifically adjusted. Daylight and ceiling lights are not optimal for every work situation.

In recent years, smart devices, especially smart glasses and cameras, have also become popular. The camera is attached to the temple of the glasses and operated using voice or gestures. It can for example capture and read texts, capture saved faces of people in its field of vision and tell the wearer who that person is and much more.

Aids for the blind

There are fewer aids available for people who work predominantly or exclusively non-visually on computers than for those with visual impairments.

The screen reader is a software that attempts to translate the graphical user interface into a form that can be understood by blind people. It outputs information as speech or Braille. her reads out text information that can be seen on the screen. In addition, it also outputs meta information. This outputs the area in which the user is located, for example in a text input field, a menu or a table cell and its position. Control elements are displayed according to their function, for example “Button”, “Checkbox” and so on. Meta information also includes status information, for example whether a checkbox is activated or not activated. It is important that the software is programmed accessible. The screen reader can only process information that is provided to it in an accessible manner.

The screen reader outputs information either via an integrated speech synthesizer or as Braille. Braille is displayed on special devices called Braille displays. Braille is displayed using pens that quickly extend or retract from the device.

There are also special reading systems for the blind. For example, they consist of a flatbed scanner and integrated text recognition. They convert printed texts into digital content so that even blind people can read them.

Today, special typewriters and printers for Braille play a less important role. They are not very practical in everyday life.

Customize software

Ideally, software is accessible. If a software is not accessible, there is the possibility of making it usable by programming special adjustments. Screen readers and screen magnifiers can be expanded through programming or adapted for special applications.

Although the adjustments make sense, they also can cause a number of problems.

It is very time-consuming and therefore expensive to completely adapt complex software. Numerous scripts have to be written, for which a developer is hired. The script languages are primarily intended for small adjustments or corrections; large program adjustments are much more complex or not possible at all.

The adjustments can become unusable if the program interface is changed due to an update. In the worst case, the adaptations have to be completely redeveloped.

Everyday technology as an aid

In some cases, everyday devices such as smartphones or tablets can also be helpful. The cameras allow a strong digital zoom. Content to be read can simply be photographed and then zoomed in on the display or read aloud. Smartphones in particular have the advantage that you almost always have them with you and they are therefore charged, while other tools also have to be packed and charged.

eBook readers based on electronic ink are also popular under visually impaired people. Many font factors can be adjusted individually and reading on these displays can be more pleasant than working with monitors with background lighting.

Personalized settings

In general, it can be said that personal configurations play a greater role the more severe or specific a visual impairment is. For this reason, it is usually difficult when a visually impaired person has to share a workstation with a sighted colleague. The visually impaired employee is dependent on the settings, but the sighted colleague may not be able to see anything or not work effectively. Changing the workplace every time is usually not practical.

For the same reason, it is also difficult if a visually impaired person does not have a permanent place in the office. In some organizations it is common for people to work in multiple locations or simply find a place to work in the morning. This is often not practical for visually impaired people because, as described above, they often use many aids.

Personal assistance

Not all tasks can be automated or carried out using tools. Another option is work assistance. The employee is supported by a person with tasks that her cannot take on herself due to his disability.

This includes a wide variety of tasks, but they all generally have something to do with visual work. A blind person cannot format a document completely cleanly or check a presentation for visual correctness. An assistant can also accompany you on business trips. The professional competence for the activity always lies with the employee, only where the employee cannot carry out his tasks for visual reasons is the assistance provided.

Assistance is more likely to be found among the blind than among the visually impaired. They fall under the benefits for participation in working life and are covered by the payer if it is recognized that they are necessary.

It should be noted here that the assistant can be employed either by the employer or by the employee. If she is employed directly by the employer, this offers some advantages. For example, she can be provided with her own workstation. Also, there are fewer problems accessing the organization. Many organizations have strict restrictions regarding access by strangers to the premises and possible access to confidential data. However, the employer should note that the assistance is primarily intended to support the disabled employee. So she should not be entrusted with other tasks.

Challenges for the visually impaired in the workplace

Below we want to look at the challenges that arise for the visually impaired beyond traditional office work.

Remote work for the visually impaired

There are numerous advantages to working from home for visually impaired people, some of which I would like to briefly mention:

The commute to work is no longer necessary: it is always a challenge for people with visual impairments.

Only one set of aids is required. Otherwise, you need one piece of equipment for home and one for the workplace.

Remote work forces digital processes. Printed documents, faxes or handwritten messages are rather unusual in digital work. Only digital document management allows complete access and further processing. Since printed documents are generally difficult for the visually impaired, they can benefit from digital document management.

Visually impaired people can easily enlarge content from presentations on the screen or use different color schemes. In face-to-face situations, it is difficult or impossible for visually impaired people to read live presentations.

But remote work also has limits. For many people, technology is more of a challenge than on-site work. The technology may fail or not be powerful enough, Internet access may fail and the software itself may be difficult or impossible to use.

Operating the communication programs is complex, even if the software is accessible. In particular, people with visual impairments are now expected to present content themselves. To do this, you must be able to work fluently with the program.

However, digitalization can also create new barriers. For example, many organizations have software that secures access to the internal network. Many of these programs are not accessible. In the worst case, this means that the disabled employee cannot use the infrastructure and cannot work

Many of the communication and data management systems are also complicated to use. Google Docs and similar complex programs that run in the browser may be as usable for a sighted person as an installed Office. This is not always the case for a visually impaired person. For example, keyboard access is limited in web applications. Programs such as tools for accounting, project management and many other office applications are often not accessible.

Remote work can lead to social exclusion. If the visually impaired employee does not find a sufficiently equipped workplace in the organization, her is forced to work from home. This puts him at a disadvantage compared to other colleagues. For example, her misses out on information from direct communication or the opportunity to make a name for herself. This may mean that career paths are blocked for him.

There is a risk that employers will force visually impaired people to work from home in order to avoid having to solve their difficulties at work. Working from home is suitable for some people, but not for all.

There are activities that cannot easily be transferred to the remote. Digitalization generally benefits knowledge and communication workers, while it does not always directly benefit body workers.

In summary, two aspects can be identified when it comes to the topic of visual impairment and remote work.

  • It is an opportunity especially for technically savvy people, as long as the solutions are essentially accessible.
  • But new barriers can also be created, especially for those who are less technically fit. Another risk is possible social isolation and exclusion.

An exception here are organizations where remote work is the rule and not the exception. For example, many companies work in global teams, with only a few employees actually on site.

Even where remote work is offered as a permanent alternative for all employees, there is no stigma attached to it. Last but not least, the home office can also be used as a transitional phase, for example if tools cannot yet be provided in the office.

New technology, new barriers

In public services in particular, environments are sometimes used that prevent access with assistive technologies. These include virtualization solutions.

Some of these solutions do not allow the operation of assistive technologies or prevent them from accessing programs and documents. Malicious programs and assistive technologies sometimes use the same access routes. This may mean that a person who relies on dedicated aids cannot do their job.

Today, such problems are often only discovered when the employee sets up their workplace for the first time. Human resources managers and supervisors in particular lack the relevant knowledge. The security guidelines also prevent the person from getting exception approval and being able to work directly on the operating system without virtualization.

Advantages and disadvantages of web applications

It currently looks as if more and more programs are moving to the cloud. Today, many programs such as the personnel portal or project management no longer run on local computers or their own terminals; they are provided centrally via servers. In the future, Office and many other applications could also run in the cloud. This would have the advantage that local PC workstations would have to be less powerful and would also bring many advantages for software maintenance. The Chrom OS, which is already widely used in the USA, already follows this approach. It is essentially a core operating system with a browser.

The browser then becomes the central platform. This move to the web can have advantages and disadvantages.

The browser has several advantages over installed software. All current browsers have integrated a powerful option for enlarging or zooming. Since many programs have also been optimized for mobile devices, with a strong zoom you can quickly get a view that is easier for the visually impaired and blind to understand.

So all content is displayed in one column. This means there is less chance of overlooking something.

As described above, browsers offer the option of overwriting settings such as colors, fonts and other aspects of the layout with your own properties. With websites you are less dependent on how the software was programmed.

However, there are also problems. Desktop programs in the office area, for example, have numerous key combinations. In Microsoft Word for Windows, for example, many important functions can be accessed by pressing the Alt key and the arrow keys. There are countless key combinations to quickly use certain functions without having to dive into the menus.

To a sighted person, the web counterpart often looks exactly like its counterpart on the desktop. From the perspective of a keyboard user, however, things are completely different. If key combinations are provided at all, three or four keys often have to be pressed at the same time, which is quite a challenge for the visually impaired if they do not know the keyboard by heart.

Reading and working in interactive office documents can also be very difficult because the assistive technology has fewer access options.

In addition to software manufacturers, providers of assistive technologies also have a duty to develop better solutions.

Recommendations for a accessible working environment

If you already know that you will be hiring a visually impaired person, you can make some preparations. As said above, it is important that such workplace enviroments are highly specialized. So it doesn't make sense to purchase hardware or software in advance, especially since such systems quickly become outdated. The additional costs for adapting a workplace are borne by the authorities, but usually only specifically for a specific employee, not for the preparation for a potential employee.

View the employee as an expert in their own field. her should be actively involved in the design of his workplace and the work environment.

Experience has shown that it is very important that company management and superiors in particular take the issue of accessibility seriously and demonstrate this through both symbolic and practical actions. Otherwise, the employees will not take the topic seriously either.

Flexibility as a maxim

The most important principle is flexibility. Often not that much extra effort is necessary; sometimes a simple, unbureaucratic solution is enough.

The workplace itself should be kept as flexible as possible. For example, more space should be kept free than in a conventional workplace so that the aids can be set up. Daylight should be blocked out. It must be possible to minimize glare from daylight and room lighting.

When it comes to personal computers, it is important that they are as powerful as possible. This means that you should have as much RAM as possible and a fast hard drive. Here too, the background is assistive technology. Magnifying glass programs and screen readers can use up a lot of resources.

It is an advantage if the employee can pull the PC monitor forward. This means that employees, even those without visual impairments, are not forced to lean forward in order to be able to see the program surfaces clearly.

Also note that disabilities often occur in combination. It can always happen that a visually impaired employee also needs a walking aid or a wheelchair or that they also have a hearing impairment. Of course, another disability can also arise over the course of your working life. In this case, her may need more space or additional aids. This is another reason why workplaces should above all be kept flexible and expandable.

It is an advantage if tables and chairs can be adjusted as flexibly as possible. For chairs, both the height and the angle of inclination should be adjustable. At this point, the aspects of health prevention must of course also be taken into account. Chairs that are not ergonomically adjustable can promote poor posture. This is especially true for the visually impaired.

If solutions are used that are not accessible and cannot be made accessible with reasonable effort, there should always be an alternative for the visually impaired employee. For example, many visually impaired people will not be able to read or operate the time recording terminals. Here it may be possible for the employee to simply report the data to the human resources department by email or to add it themselves via a web portal.

There are also alternatives to many desktop and web applications in the form of native apps. Native apps for smartphones and tablets are sometimes more accessible than their desktop counterparts. It should therefore be allowed for at least visually impaired users to use the native apps.

When faced with such problems, the crucial question is always whether there is an alternative that is viable for everyone. This requires the willingness of all people involved to find quick, unbureaucratic solutions. Unfortunately, this willingness is often not present.

Procurement and control

Since many jobs today primarily consist of working with computers, establishing a accessible software landscape is of great importance. This means that every time new software is purchased or developed, attention must be paid to its accessibility. Non-accessible software often means that a disabled person cannot be employed in this workplace or cannot be employed in a meaningful way.

For this purpose, it is important to establish an appropriate purchasing policy. Experience has shown that buyers fight tooth and nail if they are forced to only purchase accessible software.

Once purchased, it is often difficult to replace non-accessible software with accessible software. As shown above, it is also difficult to subsequently make non-accessible software accessible.

accessible work culture

The employer herself can ensure a high level of accessibility through good preparation. Crucial here are guidelines on how content can be created internally or by service providers. They can be specified in the organization's corporate design, for example. The templates for documents and presentations can also be prepared so that they are easy to read for the visually impaired. Relevant information can be found at the leserlich.info initiative of the German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Accessibility is often foregone for aesthetic reasons. I have often experienced this at companies that view accessibility as important. There are several lines of conflict here. It is often the marketing department or purchasing that opposes accessibility. Sometimes it's a single person, like a department manager, who wants to buy their favorite tool. Document and presentation templates as well as the entire corporate design should also be designed to be easy to read and recognise. Experience has shown that graphic designers and external service providers in particular have difficulty implementing this topic because they primarily pay attention to aesthetics.

Raising awareness among employees

Often problems arise less from the actual work, but rather from the social environment. Many visually impaired people have no identification or visible limitation. However, they still have problems avoiding people or objects or recognizing their colleagues. Colleagues may then think that the visually impaired person is being rude. Experience has shown that this can happen even if the person is clearly marked by a cane.

Problems can arise in many everyday professional situations. Many coffee machines in the office are now only operated via touch. A canteen is a challenge because of the noise, the confusion when moving around with a tray or the problems with self-service at the buffet.

Experience has shown that it is more difficult for the visually impaired to ask colleagues or even strangers for help than for the blind. People who have been disabled since birth generally find it easier to get help than people whose disability came on late. As a result, many visually impaired people are reluctant to take part in avoidable activities where they might need help.

The person concerned should therefore be encouraged to communicate their disability openly with colleagues. her should do it herself if possible. The employer should only communicate it with the consent of the person concerned.

The visually impaired person should be encouraged to communicate where they need help and where they do not need help. If her encounters difficulties in her work, her should be encouraged to actively communicate this to her superior. Colleagues should be encouraged to offer her help if possible.

Read more on accessible Workplace