Lately I have been endeavoring to send letters of recommendation to colleges and universities across the U.S. on behalf of students who are applying to graduate schools.
I only write letters for those students whose work and preparation will make them successful graduate students and accordingly the process of writing these letters is fairly pleasant. (It feels good to say that Casper Hauser will be a credit to the profession, whatever that profession might be. He has, after all, come a long way from the feral state that characterized his former days.)
The "thing" that does not feel good is the relative inaccessibility of the various online recommendation websites that some of these colleges and universities are now using.
If you use screenreading software for the blind you will be able to access some of these sites, but others are largely inaccessible.
Well that’s no big deal. After all, stores like Target have resisted making their websites accessible for years. Even when there isn’t some kind of organized hostility to electronic or digital accessibility, there’s a cluelessness and systemic inattention to accessibility in all kinds of areas that intersect with higher education. I could go on and on about this topic but I need to maintain my equilibrium today.
Two of these online recommendation sites have form fields that screenreading software can’t engage and when you write the "help" line you actually get an e-mail that asks you to enter your problem in another inaccessible place.
I hold my head. I spit gently into my hanky and proceed.
S.K.
Planet of the Blind 