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As part of our 2025 Global Accessibility Awareness Day celebration, we took the opportunity to chat with Jesus Reyes, an accessibility tester at PLUS QA, and find out about the ways that digital accessibility impacts his life.
Can you tell us a little about yourself—who you are and what you're passionate about?
Hello, my name is Jesus! I am fully blind, hard of hearing, and use accessibility tools such as screen readers not only to do my work, but also to do day to day tasks and have fun.
I am passionate about digital and physical accessibility, as that helps people like myself live more independently, but also gives us more opportunities to do things we can enjoy.
What’s your role at PLUS QA, and what kind of work do you do day to day?
I am an accessibility tester here at PLUS QA. Most of the time I am testing websites and apps for screen reader accessibility on different platforms like desktop and mobile. This not only includes doing the testing itself, but also writing clear tickets that explain the issues I come across in a way that clearly identifies the issue, and includes some expected behaviors in a way that someone who may be new to digital accessibility can follow.
More recently, I’ve been writing some documentation to help train new testers and quickly get them up to speed with screen readers as well as how they operate.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced when using websites or apps that aren’t accessible?
Some of the biggest challenges I face when using apps or websites that aren’t accessible are when I can’t clearly identify where a link will lead to, or what a button will do when activated. Additionally, it is difficult when links and buttons are not presented in a logical order that a screen reader can follow. At best, it is an inconvenience, and at worst, it is a big issue.
There has been a time or two where I’ve reset a form that I’ve spent a few minutes filling out because what I thought was a next button was in fact a reset form button. This could have been prevented if the buttons on the form were labeled, and were in a linear order.
How does accessible technology make a difference in your daily life or help you do things more independently?
Accessible technology and applications not only allow me to be more independent, but also make life more enjoyable.
Many grocery apps are accessible to varying degrees, and I can not only use them to have groceries delivered to my home, but can also help me place an order for pickup if I’ll be in the area later.
Accessible transit and rideshare apps make it easier for me to get around and meet up with friends or to get to events that interest me. Accessible restaurant apps help me place an order for table service or pickup. This was especially useful during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As stated earlier, I am not only blind, but also hard of hearing. I wear hearing aids, but they can only do so much, and may work better in certain environments than others. Trying to hear what someone who was wearing a mask was saying over the top of a large sneeze guard and plastic shield over the top of echoing music was not ideal.
This is where these restaurant apps would come in, allowing me to place my order ahead of time or while sitting at a table, so I could still get what I wanted, without the stress of having to try and hear what an employee was saying.
In your experience, how has digital accessibility improved over time, and where do you think there’s still room to grow?
On desktop and mobile devices, my main tools are screen readers. In 2025, I am pleased to say that I am hard-pressed to think of a main-stream device that doesn’t have some form of screen reader built in. From Mac computers and Windows computers, to iPhones and Android devices, but also TVs and their different streaming boxes and dongles, and even smart displays and gaming consoles.
However, just because a screen reader is built in doesn’t mean that everything is going to be accessible. It is up to the app developers and website designers to ensure accessibility is not only included, but also maintained.
All too often a new feature or page of a website is launched, and accessibility is not prioritized.
While awareness of digital accessibility has come a long way since what I believe to be 2016 where I saw a huge uptake in accessibility efforts, one thing that stands out is that accessibility is still seen as an afterthought.
Just as app design and functionality are important and frequently get tested before an update is launched to the public, accessibility should be tested alongside as well. Where there is a new screen or page, there are new elements that may look inconsistent with the rest of the product, may have functionality issues, or may also have accessibility issues. Accessibility should be treated as an ongoing effort. Interested to learn more about our accessibility testing services? Reach out to us today.