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Re: Developers don't detect my screen reader

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From: deborah.kaplan@suberic.net
Date: Aug 10, 2015 12:51PM

On Mon, 10 Aug 2015, Mike Warner wrote:

> We ask up front via a hidden button whether a student is using a screen reader, and use this data later to adjust settings to make our courses easier for SR users to consume. There aren't many things that require a setting change. Mainly, the video wmode needs to be set differently for a screen reader to get at the controls.

There's a real danger to doing this, which is that many of the things screen reader users need are also needed by people who don't use screen readers and would never answer yes to that question. For example, controls that are available to screen readers are usually the only kind of controls which are available to keyboard and speech users. (Many people who prefer the keyboard over the mouse, whether for usability or for disability reasons, don't even think of themselves as disabled, or as users of adaptive technology.)

Perhaps your video player does not have this problem, but I have often found that the only version of a web app I can use is the one that asks "are you using a screen reader".

And of course, as everyone has said, maintaining the differences becomes a chore that is unlikely to be sustained as the members of development teams and design teams change over time. Thus the notorious Amazon Mobile/Accessible version, or Outlook for the Web Accessible Version, both of which are missing essential functionality of the non-accessible sites. In this case, you are only talking about different controls, not different sites -- but that still requires future developers, when you are not around anymore, thinking to set the modes differently.

Deborah Kaplan