A Study on Accessibility Aspects of Software Development in Brazil

Abstract

Software accessibility promotes the inclusion of people who would otherwise not be able to access such computer systems. This access has become increasingly important as we progressively favor digital alternatives to services such as banking, entertainment consumption, study, work, and shopping. This work objective was to understand the experience of Brazilian software developers regarding accessibility, how it has been implemented in projects they develop in the organizations in which they work, and the challenges involved in doing so. We interviewed 15 Brazilian software developers and then analyzed the interview transcripts from a qualitative perspective. The results indicate that, although developers understand accessibility and recognize its importance, there is a lack of the technical and theoretical knowledge necessary to develop accessible software. They also show that the organizations they work for neglect accessibility due to increased cost and development time.

Pessoas com Deficiência como Protagonistas na Construção de Software Acessível

“…A conscientizac ¸ão na construc ¸ão de produtos acessíveis e de um ambiente de trabalho inclusivo é um processo ainda mais complexo quando não é vivenciado. Alguns estudos apresentados na literatura [Silva et al 2022, Teran et al 2021] tem destacado que desenvolvedores de software de maneira geral conhecem e aplicam pouco a acessibilidade em seu cotidiano profissional. Em 2018, o conhecimento dos desenvolvedores sobre problemas de acessibilidade nos produtos por eles desenvolvidos foi analisado e a maioria (51,7%) mencionou que nunca desenvolveu um website acessível, 80% não utiliza ferramentas automatizadas para avaliar a adequac ¸ão da acessibilidade e mais de 60% não está familiarizada com as diretrizes e normas nacionais e internacionais de acessibilidade [Antonelli et al 2018].…”

Exploring Design Thinking as a Software Accessibility Awareness Raising Methodology in Computing Courses

“…In previous studies [5,6], we surveyed and interviewed software development professionals and explored the reasons for the low adoption of accessibility in software projects. In this study, the professional's lack of knowledge about accessibility emerged among other problems, such as the initial increase in development costs and the lack of interest from stakeholders.…”