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ARIA menubar/menuitem keyboard use

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From: Chris Rodriguez
Date: Feb 13, 2013 8:48AM

Hello,

I'm working with a vertical style subnavigation menu that I'd like to make
keyboard navigable. It functions like an accordion - clicking/pressing
Enter on one level will "expand" it's child pages. Currently, I can Tab
through the menu and navigate to each element, but screen readers aren't
aware there are nested lists under each top-level section.

It was brought to my attention to try the ARIA role="menubar" and
"menuitem". I've implemented this and the screen readers understand the
items are part of a menu, but I cannot use the keyboard arrow keys to move
around as I'd like.

Does anyone have insight as to why this is the case and suggestions or
recommendations for making it work?

Thanks in advance,
Chris