5 ms·
I appreciate that you're trying to help your coworker, but in this case, I don't think you and your team should have to modify your process to accommodate him.
by mwcampbell 7y ago
I appreciate that you're trying to help your coworker, but in this case, I don't think you and your team should have to modify your process to accommodate him. In particular, doing code review in-person, possibly using a voice recorder as was suggested elsewhere in this thread, is not necessary.
After all, the asynchronous nature of online code reviews is a good thing; it means the whole team can get involved on their own schedule. Also, electronic text is the universal format, accessible to everyone regardless of disability. Imagine if you or one of your other teammates were deaf, or had a severe speech impediment. All of you, including your visually impaired coworker, would still be able to collaborate through text.
I'm not surprised that he's having trouble with the GitLab web interface for merge requests. I'm going to assume that he's very proficient with his assistive technology and has tried every possible work-around on the website itself. GitLab also has an API, and someone linked to a couple of CLI tools elsewhere in this thread. If those don't help, your coworker should be able to hack together something that works for him. Or, if you really want to help him, talk to him about what kind of interface would work well for him, then hack it yourself. Just don't contort your team's process or your schedule around him.
It may seem that I'm being too tough on your coworker. But I'm visually impaired myself (see my profile), and have several blind friends who are programmers. I don't think any of them would ask for in-person code reviews as an accommodation because of an inaccessible web interface. Again, I appreciate that you want to help your coworker; I'm just trying to steer you away from what I believe is a misguided solution.