Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is a broad term referring to any tool, software, or hard-ware device that helps a person access and interact with digital content.

It is not uncommon for people to think of complex functionality and specialized adaptive devices when they first think of assistive technology. It’s important to note that while some technology is in the form of separate devices or specialized operating systems, there are many examples of assistive technology that is already built into your own everyday software and devices.

Assistive technology can take many forms—and can be found in use across all demographics regardless of age, environment, or even disability status. It’s so common that even if you do not have a disability, there’s a high change you frequently use some of these assistive features without realizing it.

Categories of Assistive Technology

Screen readers

A screen reader is software or functionality that processes on-screen text and information about visual elements, then outputs them into braille or computer-generated speech.

Who uses screen readers

Screen readers are commonly utilized by individuals who are blind, experience low-vision impairments, or have certain cognitive or learning disabilities. According to a 2024 survey by WebAIM approximately 89.9% of screen reader users report using this technology due to a disability. The most common of these disabilities was blindness at 76.6% of respondents, followed by low vision/vision impairment at 19.9%. 19.1% of respondents reported using screen readers due to a non-vision related disability such as a cognitive/learning disability, deafness/hard-of-hearing, or motor disabilities.

Notably, 5.3% of respondents reported being both blind and deaf/hard-of-hearing. These users likely rely on screen readers that output the information to a refreshable braille device (RBD). In these instances a screen reader converts web content, but rather than outputting the content audibly it is sent to the RBD and appears on a braille display.

Types of screen readers

As mentioned above, many devices have assistive technology built into them. These native integrations tend to be popular as they don’t require any additional installation and remain up-to-date with the device’s OS. Native screen readers are free and provide easy access see how your website is presented to users of these tools.

3rd party applications are also available to download for compatible devices—typically window computers. These applications can be free or paid, and offer a variety of unique controls and customizations.

Commonly used desktop screen readers

*Screen reader usage is based on the results of the 2024 Screen Reader User Survey #10 from WebAIM

Commonly used mobile screen readers

*Screen reader usage is based on the results of the 2024 Screen Reader User Survey #10 from WebAIM

Building screen reader compatible websites

In our article on WCAG levels we mentioned that assuming automated accessibility tools will ensure a website is accessible is a common misconception. The screen reader experience is a great example of why this is false. While automated tools are fantastic resources for catching some common screen reader issues like missing alt text, some structural semantics, and flagging inaccessible PDF’s; only a human-reviewer can evaluate things like whether or not the content is presented to a screen reader user in a logical order, or if the links and buttons have descriptive enough labels.

There are many elements on a website that may pass an automated accessibility checklist but still cause confusion or other problems with the overall experience. Many common features on modern websites like CAPTCHA verification and embedded forms wind up “invisible” to screen readers, or block the tool’s access. According to this WebAIM survey, the most common issues screen reader users encounter are:

• CAPTCHA verification: Screen reader users are often flagged as bots, blocking them from submitting forms or accessing full websites.
• Interactive elements: Menus, tabs, dialog boxes, and other interactive components on a website frequently fail to work correctly.
• Links or buttons: Without surrounding visual clues, vague or non-descriptive labels can leave screen reader users confused about a link or buttons respective destination or action.
• Dynamic content: Screen readers are often unaware of dynamic content—when all or part of a screen updated or changes, either automatically or as a result of triggering action—and will fail to re-announce critical information like errors and confirmation messages.
• Keyboard access: Tab navigation is frequently used without screen readers, but all screen readers rely on keyboard navigation to operate correctly. Their experience hinges on keyboard navigation being enabled and setup correctly.
• Missing alt text: Well written alt-text provides screen reader users with the important visual context media assets provide. Proper alt-text is also a major aspect of SEO—ignoring this issue hurts your business twice.
• Forms: Complex or difficult forms, especially if there are problems with keyboard navigation can be overwhelming and difficult for screen reader users to interact with.
• Navigation items: Having too many navigation items, especially without a skip link in place to bypass the menu, can be frustrating for screen reader users to have to have announced every time they reload a page.
• Data tables: Complex data tables can loose context and structure when announced through a screen reader. This is another point where a skip link can be beneficial so users can choose whether or not they want to review the content in a data table.
• Search functionality: Lacking or having an inaccessible site search can impede screen reader users from being able to efficiently find relevant information and explore your site.
• Skip links: Skip links are a critical way to allow screen reader users to bypass navigation, secondary content, or interactive forms so they are not forced to go through time and interaction-consuming sections unnecessarily. Without skip links, screen reader users are likely to experience much more fatigue navigating and consuming content on your site.

If your website contains any of those items (it almost certainly does) and you have not yet made the effort to ensure their compatibility with screen readers—accessibility issues aren’t a maybe, they’re a certainty.

Remember, it is not yet possible for analytics tools to detect screen readers, so you should always assume your traffic includes these users.

Keyboard navigation

Keyboard navigation refers to navigating a system without a mouse. While many people do this through their computer keyboard, many individuals choose to use adaptive tools such as switch devices. These devices typically have one two keys (or other input method) that corresponds to the actions of using “tab” and “enter” keys on a keyboard—allowing them to navigate between and interact with page elements.

Who uses keyboard navigation?

The answer is many individuals. You yourself have likely used keyboard navigation without realizing it. If you’ve ever used the tab key to move between form fields becuase it was easier than moving back and forth to the computer mouse—that’s an instance of keyboard navigtaion, and an example of why supporting accessibility functions benefits users across the board.

Keyboard navigation is primarily relied on by people with motor disabilities and tremors that make it difficult or impossible to control a mouse. Additionally, keyboard navigation is frequently used by people with temporary disabilities like repetitive strain injuries or broken arms. It is often during these temporary disabilities that people realize just how much of their digital environment is not accessible.

Mentioned above, is important to note that screen reader users are another major set of keyboard navigation users. While many keyboard users do not user screen readers, all screen reader users rely on keyboard navigation to do so. This means that if your website’s keyboard navigation accessibility is broken, then its screen reader accessibility is broken too.

Building keyboard navigation compatible websites

The good news is that a lot of webpage elements should already support keyboard navigation. Most accessibility issues are caused when the default settings of html components are removed or restyled in a way that disables them. Common issues that impact keyboard navigation include the following:

• Focus states: Hidden or low contrast focus state styles render them ineffective, as the user cannot see where there are or what element on the page is active.
• Tab orders: Incorrect tab orders that break the logical selection order of interactive elements make it frustrating or impossible to interact with a website
• Inaccessible elements: Creating custom HTML elements (if you need a button, just use an html button) removes the accessibility features that come with the standard components. Reduce the time and effort required to build accessibility back into these components by just using the appropriate HTML element from the start.
• Overly complex or lengthy navigation: Anywhere with a large amount of links or individual interactive elements can be cumbersome and frustrating to tab through. These are great places to add skip links, especially if users will repetively encounter the section—such as a main menu that will have to be tabbed through every time a page reloads.
• Time sensitive interactions: User’s who rely on keyboard navigation will likely need much longer to complete tasks than a mouse user. Interactions or forms with timeouts can be stressful and difficult for keyboard navigation users to complete within the given duration.

Just like with screen readers, automated accessibility testing tools can flag specific conditions issues like missing focus states and semantic errors, but you need a human-reviewer to evaluate if the site is actually usable by keyboard. To start yourself, you can open your website, start pressing the tab key, and observe—does anything on the page get highlighted; does the focus highlight move to the next element you would expect it to or does it jump somewhere else; can you accomplish your users primary goal without touching your mouse, or do you get lost or stuck?

Voice navigation

An alternative to keyboard navigation, voice navigation software allows users to navigate and interact with a website solely through spoken commands.

While the rise of voice assistants (like Siri or Alexa) over the past few years has increased the commonality of voice interfaces, and improved native voice-assistant’s capabilities to run commands, these should not be confused with traditionally accessibility-focused voice navigation technology. Despite the growing capabilities of voice-assistants their limitations still far outweigh their capabilities for individuals who rely on voice as their primary method of navigation.

Who uses voice navigation

Voice navigation is largely relied upon by individuals with physical or motor disabilities who are unable to use a mouse or keyboard. Voice navigation may also be used by individuals with temporary disabilities that prevent them from using traditional navigation devices.

As general voice interfaces become more common, more users are also turning to voice navigation tools by choice—finding they allow for a greater ability to multitask or simply preferring to use voice commands over physical navigation methods. Many individuals with vision impairments may choose to pair voice navigation with screen reader technology as well.

Types of voice navigation technology

Voice-assistants, voice-interfaces, and voice-controls are becoming more common and available for wide-spread use. For users that fully rely on voice-navigation they likely use one of the following systems:

• Apple Voice Control: Available on iOS and OSx devices, voice control is a native feature that allows a user to interact with their apple deices through voice alone. Because it’s a native tool, it can work synchronously with Siri and Apple’s native VoiceOver screen reader technology. The robust accessibility features from Apple allows for significant customization and individual control with support for custom shortcuts and voice commands.
• VoiceAccess: Google’s native voice navigation solution for android devices, it integrates with Google Assistant and TalkBack, the native screen reader on Android.
• Dragon Naturally Speaking: Originally independant software, Dragon is now partially owned by Microsoft and allows for robust navigation and control of windows computers.

Building voice navigation compatible websites

Voice navigation relies heavily on the same conditions as screen readers and keyboard navigation. While focusing on keyboard navigation will significantly improve screen reader and voice navigation experiences, you should be sure to always test the methods individually to make sure all three experiences are fully functional.

Screen magnification

Screen magnification is when portions of the user’s screen or browser website is enlarged or magnified.

Who uses screen magnification

Screen magnification is often used by individuals with low vision who have trouble seeing screens at the default display size, but may not yet need or want to use a screen reader.

Types of screen magnification tools

Most popular devices have built in screen magnification tools, but there are some third party tools available. Popular screen magnification software includes the following:

• Windows magnifier: Available as native functionality within Window computer settings.
• Zoom: Native to Apple devices, Zoom can be enabled in the accessibility settings from mac desktop and laptop devices, iPads, and iPhones. This tool should be supported across mobile applications and is integrated into the Safari browser.
• Magnifier: A native Android solution from Google, Magnifier is available under device accessibility settings. This tool works for most apps and is integrated into the device’s Chrome browser.
• SuperNova: A 3rd party app, SuperNova offers speech feedback and is designed for enhanced controls; it allows users to split screen magnification and make additional changes to their UI like altering colors and increasing contrast.
• ZoomText: Not to be confused with Apple’s Zoom, this is a separate 3rd party application similar to SuperNova. ZoomText has additional capabilities that allow users to connect an external camera to project and magnify printed documents to their computer screens.

In addition to these more robust magnification tools, many people may choose to just increase their device and browser default text size or increase the default zoom that webpage’s will load at.

Building websites that support magnification

Regardless of the method in which users are increasing the size of your website, it’s important that it adapts to these magnification changes instead of breaking.

Make sure to never disable your website’s ability to scale within the browser. If you’re unsure how your website will currently react, experiment with changing your browser’s default text size and change the zoom level to see how your website reacts. Users that rely on these settings should be supported in their experience, so keep an eye out anywhere your page content breaks, overlaps, or falls of the page—these are instances where your website’s responsivity isn’t working right.

Captions and transcripts

Video captions refer to the text displayed over a video that provides a written version of the audio track. Conversely, transcript are a text-only version of an audio-file and may be provided as a separate, readable alternative to videos or podcasts.

Who uses captions and transcripts

Captions (also known as closed captions in TV and streaming content) and transcripts are a major accessibility tool for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Additionally, captions can be valuable tools, and are widely used by, people with auditory processing issues or non-native language speakers.

Captions and transcripts are one of the best examples of an accessibility feature that’s widely used, regardless of disability. Whether choosing to utilize them because of environmental factors or personal preference, they’ve been a widely understood and utilized feature for decades due to the integration of closed captions into TV networks and content streaming platforms.

How to support captions and transcripts

The recent rise of short-form video content (like Tik-Tok and Instagram Reels) has heightened awareness around the importance of video captions. Many video editors now include captioning tools, and creators more creators are taking the time to add them to videos.

As a fallback, popular apps like Instagram have launched a setting that allows users to leverage AI and have video captions and translations auto-generated—widening the access to videos that didn’t have captions added by the creator. While this is a great accessibility aid—and an example of a positive application for AI—autogenerated captions can frequently have mistakes, highlighting the value and control creators can retain by including captions during their editing process.

Regardless of platform, we strongly recommend that you always take the time to add captions to video content and provide transcripts for audio-only media like podcasts. With AI’s ability to efficiently process and convert speech into text it’s incredibly easy to generate captions and transcripts—just make sure you review and edit the initial draft to correct any errors.

Accessibility Overlays

Over the past few years it’s become increasingly common to see businesses implementing an accessibility overlay into their websites. These are typically 3rd party plugins that promise “full WCAG compliance” and insert a floating button on the site which, when enabled, creates an overlay that offers text-to-speech, magnification, alternative navigation options, and other supposed features.

Do accessibility overlays work?

The short answer—No. These companies promise a lot but ultimately deliver little to no value to users. These overlays work by allowing a 3rd party to inject code into your website. Not only does this not fix any of the underlying accessibility issues on your website but it opens you up to a major security risk.

Ultimately, almost everyone who would rely on the accessibility functions these tools claim to provide will already have a preferred configuration of software and assistive devices—configured to their individual needs and preferences—which 3rd party overlays are likely interfere with, causing more usability challenges not less.

At the end of the day your users don’t want a custom accessibility solution; they just want your website to support the tools that already exist. Save your money on these integrations and invest it into improving the accessibility of your website at its core.

Why assistive technology matters for small businesses

Unless you have experienced a temporary or permanent disability that impacted your ability to use traditional navigation methods, you’re likely unaware of how inaccessible the digital world is. While the software and tools that exist offer disabled users incredible methods of interacting with and navigating websites, their ability to do so ultimately hinges on businesses ensuring their website supports these alternate experiences.

Failing to support accessibility within your website can reduce your user base and weaken your website’s SEO and overall user experience. Understanding the tools and technology that many individuals with disabilities rely on—and the way they interact with websites—set’s you up to better understand the potential pain points and limitations that have been created within your businesses website.