a11ysoft

My name is Pete Brunet. I’m a software engineer. My most recent work has been focused on IAccessible2 (aka IA2), an interface created by IBM. Using IA2, application developers provide Assistive Technology (primarily screen readers) access to information about their application’s controls, widgets, and gadgets. IA2 is an extension to Microsoft’s MSAA and adds access to information not available via MSAA such as full information about a table, and the location of the caret in a text field. During 2006, under guidance of Rich Schwerdtfeger, I led the effort in IBM to create the IA2 interface and provided guidance to developers implementing IA2 in Firefox (along with Aaron Leventhal, the lead Firefox a11y engineer), Lotus Symphony, JAWS, and Window-Eyes. In December 2006 IBM donated IA2 to the Linux Foundation. At that point I became chair of the IAccessible2 SIG, a workgroup of the Linux Foundation Open A11y SIG. The spec became frozen on March 26, 2007 and is now being used in the marketplace in the products mentioned above.

On January 21st (2009) due to the global economic crisis, Aaron Leventhal and I were part of a large “resource action” within IBM’s Software Group. For more background on the resource action and the impact on the accessibility community see the following posts:

• Rich Schwerdtfeger
• Aaron Leventhal’s first post
• Aaron’s second post

I’m currently in the market for a new assignment. If you are looking for a software engineer, especially an accessibility software engineer, please check out my resume and if you feel there is a good match between my skills and your needs, please get in touch.

pete @ a11ysoft.com