2. Dejan Pavlovic Director, Regulatory Affairs & Development
Oracle Corporation

3. Oracle Corporation Largest Enterprise Software Vendor
$9.42 Billion Revenue
Over 200,000 Customers
60+ Countries
40,000+ Employees

4. Oracle Is in Three Businesses
Technology
Applications
Services

5. History of Accessibility Activity
U.S. Section 508
-- Lobbied Congress on Rehabilitation Act
-- Comments on Technology Standards
-- Comments on Procurement Policy
-- Discussions with Access Board, Government
And Consumer Advocates/Disability Groups
-- Discussions with States on Standards and
Procurement issues
Work with Customers, Partners
Standards Development Organizations
International
-- Directives, Regulations, Legislation
-- Ongoing process;
-- industry, govt, advocates collaboration is key;
-- Social Integration
Demographic Ageing - market
Information Society for all
eEurope/ eAccessibility
Barrier free access
Barrier free Information Technology

6. Accessibility Program
Commitment from Top Executives
Corporate Goal:
- Demonstrate accessibility of products and services
- Accessibility as aspect of Usability
Implemented by Product Development Teams
Accessibility design requirements part of product release process
Work began in 1999
Cross-Organizational Process within Oracle
Global Scope
- Section 508 and W3C international requirements
Work with IT and AT vendors
Mandate: demonstrate accessibility of products and services
All products with UI impacted
Corporate websites and on-line services
Education services
Support services
Product documentation
Third party products/services
Website:

7. Product Development Collaborative process
Development/Legal generate all product statements
Oracle products are coded to applicable standards
Oracle tools can deliver accessible applications if accessible coding practices are used
White papers posted for developing accessible applications
Mainstreamed accessibility = solution capable of inter-operating with AT
Language versions are not impacted
Oracle products use two UI’s
Professional user interface includes Java
Mass user interface utilizes HTML
Oracle products are coded to 508
AT vendors are not required to meet 508
Visual code scan
Oracle’s Accessibility Checker (OAC) for HTML
Simulated Screen Reader mode for Forms based Apps
JAWS test by sighted users
JAWS test by vision impaired users
Development completes Product Accessibility Template

8. The Technology Stack: IT & AT
Assistive Hardware
& Software
Microsoft & Web
Clients/Browser
Web Server
Application &
Application Server
Browser—user interface that captures input and transmits HTML to the web server
Web Server – Captures and transmits HTML back to Browser to present Web pages; passes request on to application serve as needed
Apps & Apps Server – processes application logic/rules ; connects multiple users to a single database
Database - -Stores data; responds to searches and queries; passes results back to application on the application server
Each vendor in the stack needs to address their own products
-- on top of client HW/SW: processes—business and IT
Database

9. IT & AT: Inter-Operability Issues
Oracle products are not coded to a specific platform
Oracle products include both Java based and pure HTML applications
Java based products require AT that utilizes the Java API
If another screen reader on Mac or Linux was coded to the Java API, then Oracle’s Java based applications should work with it
Our HTML screens are designed to work with multiple browsers, although we recommend IE for all users
AT with Sun’s Java API include:
JAWS, Zoomtext and Baum’s Virgo
These AT products only run on Windows

10. IT & AT: Configuration Customers Office Standard Worldwide: JAWS
Stability, reliability and optimal user experience require specific versions
Current Configuration:
JAWS , NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6, IE 5.5, JDK and Java Access Bridge 1.0.2
JAWS 5.0 beta being evaluated
Pure HTML products should work with Window Eyes and other screen readers
The Java Access Bridge is a technology to expose the Java Accessibility API (JAAPI) in a Microsoft Windows DLL, making Java applications and applets that implement the JAAPI visible to assistive technologies on the Microsoft Windows platform. This release is designed to work with the Java 2 SDK versions through 1.4. It is not compatible with JDK
-- Oracle Forms supports the JAB which allows integratoin with screen reader assistive technologies that also support Java, such as JAWS from Freedom Scientific.
-- JAWS scripts posted to OTN
SQL*Plus, Forms Builder, Forms Runtime
Government customers use JAWS
Freedom Scientific sets priorities based upon end user feedback
JAWS enhancement requests should be directed to Freedom Scientific
Freedom Scientific can address their policies on 508 and W3C
--JAWS 5.0 beta being evaluated

11. Lessons Learned Standards and the need for harmonization Partnerships
Solutions: Platform, browser, IT and AT companies need to code to standards for optimal performance and inter-operability
Goal: Use one set of standards (i.e. based on Section 508 E&IT Accessibility Standards) globally – including among states and different countries.
  All stakeholders need to work together
Reasons:
1.      Lower cost to industry to produce one product that meets one set of standards rather than multiple products for different standard sets will enable more countries to implement accessibility standards sooner, rather than later.
2.      With one set of standards, there will be less confusion among organizations and agencies as to which standards they will implement.
3.      One universal set will enable organizations to focus their efforts at training developers and employees about how to implement the standards to better ensure their implementation. (i.e. Rather than train people at a shallow depth about all the different sets, can train them more in depth on one set – more understanding and better implementation.)
One set will encourage cooperation among different groups whose primary goal is accessibility.

12. Contact Information
Connie Myers
Accessibility Program Manager
Dejan Pavlovic
Regulatory Affairs