[CATO] Help with testing Chromebooks for accessibility

[Lattin, Zachary]

Good morning CATO,

Do you have time to help me (and all of us,) out?  Want to get your hands dirty with some assistive technology?

I am being asked to evaluate Chromebooks for use in  Clark College's IT infrastructure.  I am feeling a lot of pressure, especially given Chromebooks' history of being inaccessible and given the scope of what an actually thorough and professional evaluation like this involves.  Because Chromebook accessibility or lack thereof impacts all of us, I figured I would ask CATO for help.  At my CIO"s recommendation, I recently reached out to several institutions who use Chromebooks and it seems those institutions were unaware of or didn't test for accessibility before adopting Chromebooks.  Here is a rough outline of how I plan to go about this testing:


  *   Research existing Chromebook accessibility documentation and find recent user stories from AT users who regularly use the devices
  *   Verify that all built-in assistive technologies are compatible with Google suite, and adequate and functional for a user in 2023
  *   Test out screen magnification and make sure it is adequate
  *   Test switch access and insure compatibility with common hardware switches
  *   Test voice-control (Dragon-like functionality) and insure that user experience is consistent.  Test with device mic and some common headset mics.
  *   Verify that using Chromevox is comparable to using a screen-reader like Jaws or NVDA and verify that the Google Suite is functionally accessible with Chromevox
  *   Verify claims that braille support (including UEB and Nemeth support) has been improved and works consistently across the Google suite of apps.  Verify that braille support works with common braille display hardware.
  *   Finalize an assistive technology training plan for AT users who have Chromebooks and wish to be trained to access Clark resources with them.
  *   Align all of the above with Revised Sec. 508 functional accessibility requirements or with WCAG wherever applicable

Here are a couple of asterisks:

  *   Clark is not considering the arm architectured Chromebooks, only the Intel I5s and i7s
  *   At this time Clark is not interested in touchscreen functionality

I haven't brought this up with CATO leadership or asked to have it on the agenda or anything, just feeling stressed and asking for some support.  I could use any help at all with this!  I'd be glad to chat about it at the June CATO meeting though.
Thank you,
--Zach

Campus IT Accessibility Coordinator and Assistive Technology Specialist
IT Services
Phone (call or text): (360) 992-2016
Email: zlattin at clark.edu

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