Call for public servants with disabilities to provide input on an internal tool

Do you:

• use assistive or adaptive technology while at work?
• Have a cognitive disability that affects how you best work with written information?

We are looking for public servants to participate in a 1-hour research session on document accessibility, specifically how form data is formatted, delivered and analyzed. You do not need to be an expert in form design or have experience working with forms as part of your role to participate.

Our team at the Canadian Digital Service is creating a tool that will allow public servants to draft and publish online forms. We have an early prototype and would like input from public servants with disabilities so that we can make usability and accessibility improvements.

During the research session we will:

• share more information about the tool
• ask you to complete a series of short tasks while using it so that we can understand what might need to be improved
• optionally, ask you about your experiences with technology-related barriers to completing parts of your work.

Interviews will be scheduled July 7 - 16 between 9 AM and 5 PM.

To participate or learn more, please email Hillary Lorimer.

Hillary Lorimer

Phone: 613-402-3085

Email: Hillary.Lorimer@tbs-sct.gc.ca

How we work

We learn and make changes every 3 weeks. When we make changes to an live prototype we:

• Test manually with screen readers and web accessibility services
• Run automated tests using axeCore, an accessibility linter, and Google Lighthouse
• Aim for 100% WCAG 2.1 AA compliance and 0 critical accessibility issues

We’re creating a tool to help public servants draft and publish forms. There are a few different areas where we know that accessibility is important:

• The form itself
• The interface to draft or build the form
• The delivery and presentation of the data that the form collects

Right now we’re focused on the third area: the delivery and presentation of the data that the form collects, and that’s what we’re hoping to learn more about from you. Documents containing data fall outside our current accessibility testing, which is why we are asking public servants to test and show us how it works for them on their own devices. Understanding how you read and use data will help us make better decisions about how to deliver it.

Privacy Notice

Giving the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) your contact information is completely voluntary.

If you respond to this opportunity, your name, email address, phone number, language preference, and use of assistive technology or adaptive strategies will be collected by CDS. This personal information will only be used to contact you about the study, and will not be connected to what you tell us during the research session if you choose to participate.

This personal information will not be used for any "administrative purposes". This means that it will not be used to make any decisions that affect your employment or access to Government of Canada services.

CDS is a program within the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) of Canada.

• The collection and use of your personal information by TBS is authorized by the Financial Administration Act.
• Collection and use of your personal information for correspondence is in accordance with the federal Privacy Act. Under the Privacy Act, individuals have the right of protection, access to and correction or notation of their personal information.

Any personal information that may be collected is described in the Standard Personal Information Bank entitled Outreach Activities, PSU 938

If you have any comments or concerns about what you read here, or about your privacy rights, you may contact:

TBS Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator.

Email: ATIP.AIPRP@tbs-sct.gc.ca

Telephone: 1-866-312-1511

You have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada about the handling of your personal information.

Email: info@priv.gc.ca

Telephone: 1-800-282-1376