The Right to Work and Finding Work: the Inaccessibility of Private and Public Sector Career Portals

Abstract

The right to participation in society for people with disabilities is relatively well established in national and international law and convention (UNCRPD), and increasingly in social norms. These rights include the right to work. The majority of job opportunities today are advertised and applied for almost exclusively online in digital form. In late 2017 we performed both automated testing of career sites against WCAG 2.0 and BITV standards and a multi-day detailed laboratory observation of visually impaired and blind testers applying for jobs across 10 German organisations in the public and private sectors. The tests note significant problems with the accessibility of the career sites, both in terms of standards compliance and practical use testing. This study illustrates the barriers that digital technologies can create for people with disabilities. This paper will highlight and classify these issues, explore their causes, and briefly suggest improvements for software developers, employers and regulators.