Dear Sherry:

I’ve heard the term, “3rd Party Vendors” and was wondering if you could provide some clarity on them and our responsibility with accessibility. Are there questions we should ask when choosing other tools and software packages?

Thanks,

Party of Three

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Dear Party of Three:

Great Question! It can be confusing when choosing tools and other software packages to supplement your course. As an institution, we are responsible for making everything accessible in the online world for each and every user. This also includes the responsibility for choosing tools that are accessible as well.

Here are some important questions to ask when choosing:

• Ask for a VPAT
• Ask what accessibility standards are being followed
• Test the demo product with only a keyboard
• Be specific if you are issuing an RFP
• Ask to see their accessibility implementation road map

One of the most important things you can do during your testing phase is to try and use it with just the keyboard and see what result you get. This is usually a great indication of the level of accessibility build into the product.

For more information, to learn what a VPAT is, and to dive deeper into these questions, look at this article from Knowbility, Checking 3rd Party Vendors’ Product Accessibility. 

I hope this is helpful and feel free, as always, to reach out with any questions to strier@nmc.edu.