Why are Applications Still Not Accessible?

Many technologies exist today that enable developers to make an application accessible. With some frameworks like Microsoft .Net all a developer must do is add an "Accessible Name" to each item on the screen that is not automatically labeled. However, even in .Net, many applications are still developed that have unlabeled text boxes and unorganized tab navigation.

Therefore, some extra steps need to be done to get past this problem. First, developers need to "see" what a screen reader sees. If a sighted developer could easily see where a screen reader is missing something in the User Interface, they could easily fix the problem during development instead of during testing or after the product ships. Second, screen readers must take more responsibility in enabling applications that work for sighted users. For example, a screen reader could detect a nearby label and associate that with the textbox as the accessible name if the accessible name was left blank by the developer.

We will begin developing a small tool that reconstructs a form to show what the screen reader sees through the User Interface Automation (UIA). The purpose of this will be for testing the UIA and for easily allowing a sighted developer to understand what the screen reader can actually see.