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Re: Web development; How to identify if a screen reader is in use

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From: Jonathan Avila
Date: May 11, 2017 11:55AM

I'll say that many clients tell us that 90% of their users are using Chrome and thus they only care about Chrome and we shouldn't test their content with any other browser. Having metrics about browser usage from a client site is compelling to tell them that the browser used by the general public may not be the browser that is used by most people using assistive technology. The WebAIM screen reader survey is helpful but having other metrics to back that up is important. So when I speak to analytic information I'm by no means referring only to screen reader users or implying that an alternative version of anything should be shown to the user. As I mentioned many sites today use high contrast detect and also reflow content based on zoom level. Adapting the same content for responsive sites is a prime example of how this can benefit users with disabilities. Responsive sites allow for linearization and increased sized of text benefiting users with disabilities. Knowing that people are viewing responsive sites helps to convince clients that they should invest in responsive sites.

As you point out people who are not blind use screen readers and different interfaces. People who don't have dexterity challenges also use Dragon. So I see this not about detecting disability but about knowing how the user wants to interact with your site -- whether it be their voice, keyboard, or a touch screen.

Jonathan

Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group 
<EMAIL REMOVED>
703.637.8957 (Office)
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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jennifer Sutton
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 1:44 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Web development; How to identify if a screen reader is in use

All:

This business of identifying assistive technology users (why are screen reader users pretty much always the only target here, I wonder) has long been of deep concern to me.

I am opposed to it for all the reasons that have been cited. And I especially object (as I have told Jared privately, on at least one
occasion) to the citing of the WebAIM screen reader survey as anything like "authoritative" in this matter.

I believe the question was poorly framed, i.e. lacked any of the kinds of scenarios that would really explain/illustrate to most end-users what the results of such identification would inevitably mean, and trust me, it sure as heck won't all be for "their good." In fact, I'd say none of it will be, despite the supposed "good intentions" of the industry.
Anybody remember which road is paved with "good intentions?"

As I believe many of us know, at least those of us who've been around for a while . . . the WebAIM survey is, indeed, the only research we have, but it is flawed since sometimes the screen reader vendors and/or users, themselves, have often encouraged its use (some more blatantly than others) as a "marketing campaign," i.e. popularity context. That's not a criticism of the WebAIM team; there's nothing they can do about it. But it is often context that people who see the survey as authoritative lack. And it might even play into this question and its responses. Who can say?

Getting back to the topic at hand:
I wonder how Deaf people would feel if they were tracked, very specifically, every time they used captions. And I wonder how sighted people who use screen readers would feel, since we know there are sighted people (with and without print disabilities) who do. How could one tell who is who? Let's break out the numbers and track all the sighted testers who use screen readers, while we're at it. And then, let's start sending them ads or surveys that we expect them to take for free to "help" us. I mean, we need *very* specific data about each screen reader user, so we can target our surveys, don't we?

Does anybody with a disability who reads this list remember how liberating it was to be able to be on the Internet and not be identified, unless one chose to? But we should give that up?

It's one thing if an iOS app. knows that I have VoiceOver turned on, but that information is strictly kept within my personal device. I don't like how few people actually are aware that, as far as I know, that's true, but that's the choice Apple has made.

But it's quite another when we're talking about "phoning home to the mother ship." As has been indicated by others, this is an issue of privacy, security, safety, misuse/abuse of statistics that will inevitably lack context . . . plus, I suspect, may result in other issues we've not even yet anticipated.

Below my name is one of the bazillions of articles that has been written on this subject; it just happens to be the most recent I've seen.

I think people who use AT are being naive if they believe that this kind of data gathering would actually result in good. Sorry, folks, but I learn from history. I do not believe that having this data would improve people's commitments to accessibility; in fact, I think it would fundamentally distract people from just "getting the work done."

Jennifer

Notice that this article's title suggests it'll be about people with disabilities, but really, as far as I recall, it's primarily about screen reader users. It would really be a good idea if people stopped perpetuating the myth that the main people with disabilities we help with web accessibility are blind people. I know most on this list know that, but please help combat this kind of ongoing and misleading use of terms.

https://www.mightybytes.com/blog/how-many-people-with-disabilities-use-my-website/