The accessibility shell game of educational software

People often don't understand when I try to explain that just because something is labeled "accessible" does not mean that it is, in actuality, accessible. A somewhat amusing example of this appeared in a post made to one of the disability student services mailing lists to which I subscribe regarding the accessibility of a very popular math learning tool produced by one of the top educational textbook/software companies.

When the company speaks to math departments, it claims that their product is accessible, yet some interesting statements on the part of the company come to light when those specializing in accessibility talk with the company's representatives.

1. We [the company] are committed to accessibility. Any accessibility issues are Adobe Flash‘s fault.
(Obviously, no one told their developers that
flash
http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/

can be made totally accessible
http://webaim.org/techniques/flash/ ).

2. We can definitively state that our product is accessible with a screen reader even though our developers don't have a screen reader with which to test the product.

3. Our legal counsel talked to the National Federation of the Blind and when we explained that accessibility issues aren't our fault, they are the fault of the technology, the NFB was okay with that, so your school should accept that too and buy our software product.
(Obviously no one told these guys how many blind programmers belong to the NFB.)

Paranormal Parasites!!!

It turns out that my new HD radio receives a station which is all psychic/paranormal talk, all the time, and tonight's discussion involves paranormal parasites! They're organized and they're social (and not just at SF conventions)!
More at
http://www.behindtheparanormal.com/