Frequently Asked Questions
When you say “we” are SAR, who is we? Are you the government? Are you a standards body?
We are a newly formed nonprofit organization made up of members who have decided to join to further our collective goals. Professional membership is open to individuals and organizations working in the accessibility and technology field. We are not a governmental or quasi-governmental organization. We are creating industry consensus standards, which can be voluntarily adopted by any individual or group who wants to use them, free of charge. In many ways we are different from established standards bodies that utilize different business models, but we will still be creating new standards. Learn more about How we develop standards.
As someone with a disability, how can I contribute my experience?
We welcome your participation! We have a Newsletter which is free to subscribe to, and we will from time to time send out mission-related surveys to our subscribers. We also have paid Individual Member options which include more involvement, such as polls when we are considering design options, and the opportunity to attend Q&A sessions with our developers. For more details see our Membership page.
What is the scope of the products you are going to be standardizing accessibility requirements for – there are so many out there?
We are not setting out to standardize accessibility requirements for products. Instead, we are setting out to standardize how the accessibility of consumer technology products are reported on in terms of their level of accessibility. The standards can be used to provide consumers information presented in a consistent information format that includes a way to convey overall accessibility, as well as whether a given product (e.g., washing machine, home alarm system) can be used without vision, without hearing, etc. Find out more about what we are standardizing.
How can these standards and score address the vast variety of accessibility needs?
What happens if something is made accessible for the deaf community but not the physically impaired communities? What should happen for products that are designed to be accessible for one group, but might not be accessible for another group? We need to define a scoring system that will work for all consumers, and can be put to use by those who review as well as design, develop and test mainstream consumer technology products. Our standards will cover the types of mainstream consumer technologies that you would expect to find in almost any household – things that you can find in a ‘big-box’ store, or that are reviewed on mainstream consumer technology review sites. (We will not be covering products that are designed for and sold only to serve the needs of people with disabilities, such as those niche-market products that used to be listed on the AbleData database.) If a mainstream product (e.g., washing machine, home alarm system) was accessible for one group of accessibility needs and not accessible for another group of needs, then (a) it would be a reasonable anticipation that the product would not score very highly for overall accessibility; but (b) the group who could use it would like to know that before they buy; and (c) the group who cannot use it would like to know that they likely cannot use it, and therefore not buy it. First, we as a member organization need to go through the process to develop these reporting standards to determine how these scores should be decided.
When do you anticipate the standards being ready?
Our professional members are working on new standards as volunteers. They are donating their time and their expertise as part of teams who believe in the importance of this mission. The more public and industry support we have through memberships and donations, the faster we can develop and put the new standards into use. Our current starter goal is to raise $100,000 which will enable us to speed up the generation of our first standards. You can help us get there by becoming a Supporter Member, or by making a one-off donation.
Will the standards be enforced by the government in the US or Canada?
We have no say over who adopts and/or enforces the industry consensus standards we are creating. Our membership is open to global participation, and so our applicability is for any global market. Any group, association, government, etc. will have to decide for themselves whether they want to adopt a published standard. This is similar to how the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG standards”) were published, and then later adopted and enforced by various groups, associations and governments throughout the world. Through our education and outreach projects we hope to raise awareness of the need for employing our new accessibility reporting standards when they are ready for publication.
Who is doing the work to write the standards?
Our members are developing the standards (see How we develop standards). For more detail on how members contribute to the process, please refer to our Members’ Handbook.
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