Short of flooding their app with poor ratings in the app store and reaching out via their various social media contacts to put it out there that the accessibility support of the app and interest in making it accessible is lacking, there’s probably not much that can be done other than to perhaps look for an alternative.
Maybe with enough crappy ratings and public complaints, this issue might get more attention by the developers or whoever is in charge of its design. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Christine Grassman Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 7:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Unacceptable Response from Issuu Support Team Regarding VoiceOver Accessibility Dear All: Issuu is an app which provides access to millions of magazines, newsletters, etc., on virtually any topic you can think of. My son, who is also a VoiceOver user, wanted to access his high school’s newspaper which is on the platform. However, it is in an image pdf. Furthermore, trying to get around the app is nightmarish, and it does not appear that any of the available resources is accessible. I wrote to their support center, and this is the response I received. My response to that unhelpful response is first, with the response in the middle, with my original message at the bottom. I think this is absolutely something which should be available to those who use screen readers. If others agree, I think we should bombard them with requests to make their platform accessible. Christine Begin forwarded message: From: "Christine Grassman (issuu Support Team)" <[email protected]> Subject: Update from issuu Support Re: Poor VoiceOver accessibility Date: February 19, 2016 at 10:16:27 AM EST To: Christine Grassman <[email protected]> Reply-To: issuu Support Team <[email protected]> ## Please do not write below this line ## Christine <http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/e4209c4a7258496adf0f6fb46375d45c?size=40&default=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.zendesk.com%2Fimages%2Fframe_user.jpg&r=g> Christine Grassman Feb 19, 16:16 With all due respect, there is no excuse for this. Apple makes available to developers, free of charge, guidelines for making apps accessible. There's absolutely no reason not to do this. Christine Sent from my iPhone Angel <http://issuu.zendesk.com/system/photos/0001/3012/6327/unnamed.png> Angel (Help Center) Feb 19, 11:51 Hi Christine, Unfortunately we don't have a way for those with visual impairments to use screen reading technology or have a way to make our site accessible at this time. We also haven't been informed of any plans to add that functionality any time soon. I'm so very sorry about that. If we do introduce this functionality at any point, we will put up an announcement on our blog (blog.issuu.com <http://blog.issuu.com/> ) and on our help center (help.issuu.com <http://help.issuu.com/> ), so please do keep checking these places for updates. Please don't hesitate to write back if you have any other questions, and we'd be happy to assist you. Best regards, Angel _____ issuu is on iOS <http://bit.ly/issuuonios> and Android <http://bit.ly/IssuuOnAndroid> . To learn more about issuu, please visit our Help Center <http://help.issuu.com/hc/en-us> . Christine <http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/3c410c390e14f36e5d025d84476122de?size=40&default=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.zendesk.com%2Fimages%2Fframe_user.jpg&r=g> Christine Grassman Feb 15, 22:42 I am blind, as are my children. We use iPhones with VoiceOver accessibility to access text. I am deeply disappointed that Issuu is not voiceover accessible. Only some features are accessible, and one cannot find and read magazines. In this day and age, this is unacceptable. Information should be accessible to us just as to others. There is no reason why the text of your millions of publications should not be accessible using a screen reader. I hope that you will address this as quickly as possible. Christine Grassman Sent from my iPhone This email is a service from Help Center. Delivered by Zendesk <http://www.zendesk.com/> . [J5P6X7-GL7J] -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
