Oracle's Accessibility Program

"Oracle is committed to creating accessible technologies and products that enhance the overall workplace environment and contribute to the productivity of our employees, our customers, and our customers' customers."
—Safra Catz, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle

"Oracle's business is information—how to manage it, use it, share it, protect it. Our commitment to create products that simplify, standardize and automate extends to all users, including users who are disabled."
—Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect, Oracle

For many reasons—legal, business, and ethical—Oracle recognizes the need for our applications, and our customers' and partners' products built with our tools, to be usable by the disabled community. The Oracle Accessibility Program Office, reporting to the office of the Chief Corporate Architect, is responsible for defining the corporate standards for accessibility, and developing materials to train all employees so that they can successfully create products that meet those standards.

July 2016: Oracle Scholarships for Excellence in Computer Science
Oracle applauds Laura Etori and Syed Rizvi, this year's winners of the Oracle Scholarships for Excellence, given at the National Federation of the Blind annual convention in July. Each scholarship was for $8000. Though their paths through life have been dramatically different, both Laura and Syed possess the ambition that let them pursue the lives they want, with blindness being reduced to just a mere nuisance that has also brought clarity on the things they want to do with their lives. We wish them the best of luck in their studies.

May 2016: European Disability Forum and Oracle e-Accessibility Scholarship
Applications are being accepted for this year's EDF and Oracle e-Accessibility Scholarship. The scholarship for 8,000 Euro is open to a student with disability of a high education program studying in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the academic year of 2016-2017.

March 2016: Oracle Co-sponsors European Disability Forum e-Accessibility Scholarship
The first annual e-Accessibility Scholarship was awarded to Caroline Hurley, a computer science major at Open University in the United Kingdom. Oracle and European Disability Forum (EDF) sponsor the 8,000 euro scholarship awarded to higher education students with disabilities in the fields of computer science, computer engineering, user experience. The scholarship award criteria considered academic achievements along with a project proposal for applicants' final year undergraduate, graduate, or doctorate thesis covering accessibility for persons with disabilities in the ICT domain. Caroline's project is to develop a mobile application to seamlessly connect persons with disabilities with caregivers, interpreters and assistants. For further details on this award see EDF & Oracle e-Accessibility Scholarship to Computer Science Standout with Disabilities.

March 2016: Oracle Presentations and Sponsorship of CSUN
James Nurthen and Michele Van Doozer of the Oracle Accessibility Program Office will be presenting at the Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, hosted by California State University, Northridge, March 23 through 25, 2016. Oracle is also an Exclusive Sponsor of the conference.

June 2015: Oracle Sponsorships
Oracle is sponsoring scholarships and events in accessibility this year:

• EDF and Oracle e-Accessibility Scholarship: For the first time, the European Disability Forum is awarding an 8,000 Euro scholarship for the 2015-2016 academic year for students with disabilities studying in the field of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, User Experience, or related fields.
• Oracle Scholarship for Excellence in Computer Science: This year Oracle is sponsoring two $8,000 National Federation of the Blind scholarships for legally blind students in the field of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, User Experience, or related field.
• The Boston Accessibility Conference: Oracle is a sponsor of this years annual Boston Accessibility Conference taking place September 19, 2015. The goal of the camp is to provide an opportunity for developers, usability professionals, web designers, other IT professionals, and end users with or without disabilities together in an informal, non-threatening environment so they can learn from each other and promote universal design of and accessibility to IT.

February 2015: Oracle is sponsoring the Bay Area Accessibility Camp
Oracle is a sponsor of the Bay Area Accessibility Camp taking place February 28, 2015. The goal of the camp is to provide an opportunity for members of the design/development, usability, accessibility, other IT and end-users with disabilities communities to interact and learn from each other. No experience with accessibility is required. It is a participant-driven BarCamp/unconference.

March 2015: Oracle Presentations and Sponsorship of CSUN
The Oracle Accessibility Program Office presented at the 30th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, hosted by California State University, Northridge. Oracle is also an Exclusive Sponsor of the conference.

August 2014: Industry Position Paper Released - "Reporting Conformance to ICT Accessibility Standards"
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) released the white paper Reporting Conformance to ICT Accessibility Standards (PDF) about the trend requiring companies to give a "yes/no" or "pass/fail" answer when addressing how well products meet accessibility requirements. The paper reviews how this is an insufficient way to answer accessibility criteria and the impact it has when being applied to complex products. Oracle uses the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) to report accessibility conformance of our products.