SAP Accessibility Competence Center – Accessibility for Everyone
By Anke Böker, User Productivity, SAP AG – November 19, 2004
Note: This version of the article is outdated – read a more recent version
See with Your Ears
Imagine one day you start your computer and the monitor stays blank. How would
you find out whether you have new e-mails? How do you start the e-mail program
without using your mouse? How can you check what you typed on your keyboard?
What happens if you press Enter? Where is the mouse cursor? How do you
send an e-mail without clicking Send? What do you do if you want to start
a SAP system, log on, and access a transaction?
Working with your computer without using your monitor – or your mouse – would
be a challenge for you, as it is for blind users.
Blind and visually impaired people typically access computers with the help
of adapted software and hardware (assistive technology). If you cannot obtain
information from your computer by looking at the monitor, you can use a screen
reader that reads out the UI elements on the screen. Another possibility is
to use a keyboard with a Braille display. With the Braille display, you can
read by feeling the characters (if you are able to read Braille).
But you need more than these tools if you want to use software for business
solutions in an accessible way.
SAP Accessibility Competence Center
Creating accessible products is a top priority for SAP. Thus SAP has established an internal accessibility compliance plan to enable individuals with disabilities to use SAP NetWeaver and other SAP solutions.
The Accessibility Competence Center (ACC) works as part of the User Productivity department to:
- Ensure that SAP products address accessibility requirements
- Incorporate accessibility into the Product Innovation Lifecycle
- Inform SAP development communities about techniques for creating accessible applications with SAP NetWeaver
- Promote the proliferation of accessibility design in SAP development communities
- Participate in international accessibility committees
- Cooperate with corporate leaders in IT accessibility
- Work with organizations committed to making software accessible
Figure 1: The ACC Team in Walldorf, Germany
Why Does SAP Care About Accessibility?
There are two main reasons why SAP cares about accessibility:
- Social responsibility: As a global market leader for business applications, SAP also has a responsibility to offer adequate user interfaces for users with various types of disabilities.
- Legal requirements: In many countries, laws exist or are currently being passed to force public entities to only install software that is accessible for disabled users (examples: U.S. Section 508, Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz (BGG) in Germany).
Some figures: According to the World Health Organization, there are between 500 and 750 million people with disabilities worldwide. The Deutsche Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband (DBSV) (German Federation of Blind and Visually Impaired People) estimates that there are about 155,000 blind people and half a million visually impaired people in Germany.
SAP's GUI Strategy, Front-End Requirements, and Infrastructure for Accessibility
SAP's GUI strategy and related technical requirements are summarized in the document Frontend Requirements and Infrastructure for Accessibility. If you need this as a Word-document for accessibility reasons, please send an email to accessibility@sap.com.
Want to Learn More?
To learn more about accessibility at SAP, visit SAP's public accessibility Website or https://portal.wdf.sap.corp/go/acc (SAP-internal only), or contact the SAP sales office nearest you.
