Escape from the JAWS of inaccessibility
I really loved Gez and Steve’s original post on AJAX and JAWS, they have just added an update that covers methods to force updates to the JAWS virtual buffer.
This information is invaluable as it allows developers to write AJAX application which work in the audio rendering mode which most JAWS users use. My current fears about the use of Javascript, are the disparity between screen readers (and other assistive technology) and regular user agents, and web developer knowledge of the additions people with disabilities need within their scripts.
To look at the first issue, Steve and Gez have shown that screen readers may work with Javascript slightly differently to other user agents. Event may not behave in the way which a developer imagines. The obvious and now documented example is that of the non-refreshing DOM. However, I would not be suprised if there are more examples. This leads me to my second point.
Developers are not assistive technology experts. Asking them to test their code in assistive technology will just lead to false conclusions. Instead what we need is quality information which explains how assisitve technology works on a theoretical level, and then how is functions in practice. Through these explanations and expirement a body of work can be built up to give developers the tools to build for assistive technology without having to test for themselves. We come back to accessibility patterns.
In order to help developers understand they need to use events which work with keyboards, in order to help them understand when they need to focus on dynamically updated content, we need some patterns. Developers shouldn’t and can’t be expected to understand assitive technology, but they do love simple and easy to apply best practices they can apply to their own programming challenges.
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Web Development, Accessibility, Screen Readers, Accessibility Patterns, Gez Lemon, Steve Faulkner
