The Accessibility Complaint
You work on the internal IT help desk of a TAFE college. A student with low vision emails to say the new online enrolment form is unusable: the text is light grey on white, the form cannot be completed with a keyboard alone, and error messages appear only as a red border with no text. She has a enrolment deadline in three days. The form was built by an external vendor and signed off by the college's marketing team. Your team leader asks you to 'reply and tell her to use the phone enrolment line'.
1. Evaluate the team leader's instruction and describe what you would do instead, referring to communication and legal/ethical considerations.
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Evaluation: the instruction solves the college's problem, not the student's. It does not address the barrier, it pushes the student to a different channel, and it risks breaching the college's obligations under disability discrimination and accessibility standards. It also sets a precedent that inaccessible systems are acceptable.
What I would do instead:
- Reply promptly and respectfully - acknowledge the specific barriers she described, confirm the deadline is understood, and offer an immediate workaround (assisted phone enrolment with a staff member) while the fix is arranged.
- Log the issue formally as an accessibility defect with the vendor and the marketing owner, with screenshots and the student's description.
- Escalate - advise the team leader that the issue is a compliance matter, not just a support ticket, and ask for a decision in writing.
- Request a priority fix from the vendor: contrast ratio, keyboard operability, and text error messages.
- Follow up with the student to confirm the workaround succeeded.
Reasoning: communication should be person-centred and preserve dignity; legal/ethical duties require reasonable adjustments and accessible services; and the help desk's role is to resolve, not deflect.
2. The vendor says a full fix will take three weeks. Propose an interim solution and explain how you would verify it works for the student.
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Interim solution:
- Assisted enrolment - a staff member completes the form by phone or in person with the student, with her consent, and confirms the submission in writing.
- Accessible alternative document - provide the enrolment questions as a high-contrast, keyboard-friendly document (or plain text) that can be emailed back.
- Quick wins on the live form - if the vendor can deploy a CSS change, darken the text and add text error messages within days, even if full keyboard support takes longer.
Verification:
- Ask the student to test the interim option and report back.
- Test the form myself with keyboard only and a screen reader or high-contrast mode.
- Confirm the enrolment is recorded in the student system and send her a receipt.
Reasoning: an interim solution must actually remove the barrier, not just exist. Verification closes the loop and gives evidence for the vendor escalation. Documenting the interim measures also demonstrates the college met its duty to make reasonable adjustments while the permanent fix is developed.