[NFBWATlk] Overlay Position and Recommendations - International Association of Accessibility Professional’s

[Nightingale, Noel]

Thought some folks might find this of interest.

https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/overlay-position-and-recommendations
Overlay Position and Recommendations
IAAP

When citing IAAP’s position statements we request that you notify IAAP headquarters at info at accessibilityassocation.org<mailto:info at accessibilityassocation.org>. When position statements are cited or used the full context of the statement should be included. G3ict/IAAP does not endorse, approve, or certify members products or services.

Overlay Position Statement
International Association of Accessibility Professional’s (IAAP) Code of Conduct requires its members to act with integrity, objectivity, professional competence, confidentiality, and professional behavior.
More specifically members should:

Uphold the reputation and good standing of IAAP.
Act with integrity and be respectful of others.
Act fairly and take responsibility for one’s conduct (including, if applicable, the conduct of one’s employees and agents).
Act within the boundaries of relevant legislation.

IAAP believes that Overlays, plugins, or widgets must never impede access to users’ assistive technology, choice of browsers and/or operating system features. IAAP therefore does not support members making false claims about any products or services which could be harmful, either directly or indirectly, to end-users, including people with disabilities, or the integrity of the accessibility profession. More specifically, in relation to Overlay technologies, at this time companies should refrain from using marketing language implying that a website or application can be made fully accessible to all people with disabilities by simply installing a plugin or widget without requiring additional steps or services.

IAAP stands with people with disabilities, accessibility advocates, and accessibility professionals in acknowledging the deceptive nature of marketing claims that a single addition of a line of code, plugin, or widget, on its own, provides full compliance with web accessibility standards, mandates, regulations, or laws currently.

IAAP recognizes the importance of automating functions related to accessibility and that artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies have great potential in improving accessibility. At the same time, it is necessary that users, developers, and technology buyers remain aware of the limitations and potential risks of any new technology. IAAP believes that long lasting integration of accessibility innovations into services, products, and infrastructure is critical to achieving equal access for all. Innovation should be encouraged but carefully deployed so that it does not result in misleading potential buyers or impeding people with disabilities’ ability to access products and services using their assistive technology of choice.

IAAP calls upon Overlay providers to engage with advocacy groups and the broader accessibility community to ensure that Overlays are developed and implemented in a way that improves access to websites and applications.

Recommendations
Based on the findings detailed above, the Global Leadership Council (GLC) of IAAP makes the following recommendations. IAAP staff have proposed completion dates for each of the recommendations as noted below.

In implementing these recommendations, the views of all member stakeholder groups, and the broader accessibility community should be considered:

To publish IAAP Overlay Position Statement. (February 25, 2022)
To revise membership Code of Conduct terms, to include stronger language around member, or potential member, false claims. (April 1, 2022)
To put in place a Code of Conduct & Ethics Review Advisory Council. Part of the Council’s mandate will be to consider conditions to revoke, deny and/or review membership and applications from organizations that violate the Code of Conduct and cause harm to people with disabilities or the accessibility profession. (June 1, 2022)
To revise IAAP Professional Certifications and educational documentation to better define Overlays and reflect the current concerns about and potential of this technology for people with disabilities. (September 1, 2022)
To investigate putting in place a membership review process for new organizational membership applications to consider compliance with IAAP Code of Conduct. (June 1, 2022).
To investigate establishing a complaint/grievance process to facilitate raising a grievance against a member, in good faith, and to review those complaints that potentially infringe the IAAP Code of Conduct. This process must have transparent and fair procedures which respect the privacy of parties to the greatest extent possible. (June 1, 2022)
To publish a white paper summarizing the findings of the Overlays Task Force, survey and any additional relevant data. (December 1, 2022)
To promote an open dialog between parties interested in addressing concerns around Overlays through various means, which could include town hall meetings, knowledge awareness webinars, a community of practices, blogs, and event sessions. (2022/2023)
Progress and Action Steps
Progress and Action Steps
Task Force Overview
All Task Force members were volunteers and not paid for their time. The Task Force work spanned from November 2021 through February 2022. The decision to form the Task Force was due to concerns expressed by members that IAAP should have a position statement pertaining to Overlay false claims in advertising from vendors. When the Task Force was launched, its position was not to comment on any specific technology but was charged with:

Exploring how possible Overlay false advertising could be harming the accessibility profession and people with disabilities
Review IAAP Code of Conduct and Ethics statement; and
Publish findings and recommend any action steps to be taken.
The Task Force took the following action steps:

Interviewed 20 members and non-members involved with the Overlay space.
Reviewed Code of Conduct and Ethic terms.
Surveyed members and non-members receiving over 609 responses.
Engaged two members accused of making false claims.
Reviewed relevant literature including grassroots advocacy and content findings from non-profit and association professional organizations.
Talked with The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and other organizations. Identified the regulatory agencies in each country/region for reporting false advertising and deceptive marketing.
Submitted findings and recommendations to the GLC.

Leadership also engaged legal counsel from the office of Kilpatrick Stockton & Townsend who specializes in antitrust and association liabilities.

Survey Summary
The Overlay Feedback Survey distributed in January 2022 consisted of 18 questions from which 16 correspond to closed questions, two open questions and 3 follow-up questions. A total of 609 responses were obtained.

The goal of this survey about overlays is to gather IAAP members experience and opinions to help IAAP form a position statement and to ensure through advocacy, awareness, and education that IAAP members and persons with disabilities are protected against potential misrepresentations of the benefits and capabilities of those products.

An overwhelming majority of the survey’s results were collected from North America and Europe. Additional responses were collected from South America, Africa, Australia, India, and Japan. Below is a summary of the survey results:

Question 1. Are you an IAAP member? Most of the people surveyed (61%) belong to the IAAP. Of the rest (39%), the reasons for not belonging to IAAP are presented in the analysis of the answers to question 18.

Questions 2 and 3 refer to whether the respondents are Overlay sellers or distributors and if so if they compete with other companies that sell Overlays. A large majority are not Overlay sellers (97%) and of the remaining percentage, again the majority (81%), do not compete with other companies that sell Overlays.

Questions 4 and 5 have to do with how respondents relate to Overlay technology. In this case, 62% of respondents say they have a high level of understanding of Overlay technology while just over a third (33%) have a medium level of understanding of Overlay technology. In question 5, the vast majority of respondents (93%) have not used Overlays for their website

Questions 6 and 7 are related to the use of Overlay technology on the websites belonging to the companies of the respondents, which Overlay is used (follow up question), and later if using Overlays is a permanent installation or temporary one. In this case, 91% of those surveyed say that Overlays are not used in their companies. However, since a large part of the respondents do not use overlays, for question 7, 70% did not answer.

Questions 8 to 10 are intended to find out the opinion of those surveyed regarding the marketing of companies that offer Overlays. Of those surveyed, 90% say they have seen "false claims" in the "advertising" by companies about the technology. Conversely, the participants were asked if they had seen accurate claims about Overlay technology. Although 53% say they have not seen accurate claims, 30% of those surveyed say they have, or they are not sure about it. Subsequently, in question 10, respondents are asked their opinion about the marketing by Overlay companies, a majority of respondents believe that the claims are mostly inaccurate.

Questions 11, 12 and 13 have to do with the opinion of the respondents and the role of the IAAP in relation to marketing. In this case, a majority (86%) believe that the IAAP should comment on the marketing of accessibility technology and 90% of respondents say that the IAAP should comment about the marketing of Overlays specifically. In an issue strongly related to the previous questions, 89% of respondents believe that the IAAP should make its members accountable for their marketing claims in relation to accessibility through amendments to its Code of Conduct.

In Question 14, 85% of respondents would be willing to notify IAAP in case of violations to the updated Code of Conduct should a potential violation be brought to their attention. Furthermore, as is the case with Question 15, 70% of respondents are interested in having a panel discussion or other type of activity with the IAAP to discuss the issue of Overlays and various other perspectives on the technology.

For Question 16, 33 % of the surveyed believe that the IAAP should have an active role in restricting members who make false statements about the usefulness or operation of Overlays and other related technology.

Question 17 reinforces the opinions expressed in Question 16.

In the case of Question 18 we can find further information relating to Question 1 and providing reasons why some members might cancel or not join IAAP. Of the total answers 33.5% (204) gave an opinion in addition to answering Question 18. Some stated that the false claims by some sellers of Overlays are reasons enough to cancel their membership. Others stated that IAAP should not provide companies with backing to sell their products or make them members of the organization.

Survey Questions
Are you an IAAP Member?
Are you a vendor or distributor for overlays?
Are you a vendor that competes with companies that sell overlays?
What is your level of understanding of general “overlay” technology?
Are you an individual that has used overlay(s) for your website?
Does your company use website overlays?
If you are using overlays, is it for permanent or temporary uses?
Have you seen false claims in advertising by overlay companies about overlay technology in the past year?
Have you seen accurate claims in advertising by overlay companies about overlay technology in the past year?
What is your opinion for overlay companies marketing claims made in their advertisements?
Do you believe IAAP should comment on marketing related to accessibility technology?
Do you believe IAAP should hold members accountable for their marketing claims related to accessibility (not specific to overlays), through amendments to its Code of Conduct?
Would you be willing to notify IAAP of infringements of the updated Code of Conduct should something be brought to your attention?
Would you be interested in IAAP holding a panel discussion or other activities on overlays, discussing various perspectives on the technology?
Which position(s) and follow-up step(s) do you believe IAAP should take as an organization?
Do you have anything you would like to share with IAAP regarding overlays, marketing claims related to overlays, or IAAP’s Code of Conduct?