Can we work together? on the inclusion of blind people in UML model-based tasks

Abstract

Every person, regardless of age, gender, race, or any other circumstances, has the right to fully participate in society, having a life as normal as possible. Unfortunately, this does not correspond to reality. Aiming to change this scenario, there has been a growing effort to promote social inclusion worldwide. When considering people with disabilities, this can be noted by the establishment of laws and public policies that seek to ensure their rights. Although the field of computation plays an important role in this context, allowing the development of technologies that promote more independence and autonomy for people with disabilities, many tools and technologies used in this field are still inaccessible, which makes difficult the inclusion in computer education programs and in the industry. Among these tools are various graphical notations, such as the Unified Modeling Language-UML, which are inaccessible to blind people. This graphical notation is extensively used to simplify, understand and document different aspects of object-oriented software systems. Although some studies in the literature propose solutions that enable the access to information present in UML models for the visually impaired, there are no studies that formally analyzed the accessibility of UML modeling tools being used in computer education programs and in the industry. Moreover, visually impaired students and professionals with whom the authors of this study had contact reported a difficulty in finding solutions that improve their accessibility. In this context, this paper aims to assess the availability and accessibility of solutions for the inclusion of blind people in activities focused on the creation and editing of UML diagrams, allowing the inclusion of these people in computer education programs and in the software development industry. The results indicate that the UML modeling tools used in the industry are not accessible to blind developers and the alternative accessible tools are not appropriate for use in the industry.