Verifying Visual Accessibility: Screen Reader Tests

Initial Considerations

This chapter explains how students with visual disabilities use screen readers to access your instructional content and how you can verify that content using the universally accessible screen readers VoiceOver on the iOS system and TalkBack on the Android system.

How Students with visual disabilities Use Screen Readers to Access Your Content

Some students who have visual disabilities (including blindness, low vision, and other visual impairments) will use screen readers to access your course content. A screen reader is an extra layer of accessibility software that essentially reads the content on a screen out loud. Some students will use more robust, computer-based screen readers such as JAWS or Fusion to access their course material. Instructors who do not have visual disabilities typically do not have access to these tools. A good way to confirm visual accessibility using these proprietary screen readers would be to seek feedback on your course-material accessibility from your students who do use them.

However, more students, including those with visual disabilities, increasingly use mobile devices to access their course content. The most widely available screen readers for mobile devices include VoiceOver on the iOS/Apple platform and TalkBack on the Android/Samsung platform. These tools come pre-installed on the devices and are thus available to all users; you simply need to activate them.

A more direct option for instructors to check the accessibility of instructional materials is to use the Read Aloud functions available in many of the tools we use to create our documents, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. You can usually find the Read Aloud option under the View menu in your chosen application.

Considerations when Reviewing Screen Reader Accessibility

After launching your screen reader of choice, you will want to answer the following questions to determine issues, errors, or areas of concern with the screen reader accessibility of your content.

• Does the screen reading application read all visible text?
• Is content read in the order in which it is visually presented?
• Does the screen reader read any nonvisible text and, if so, was this text intentionally placed as context for blind or visually impaired individuals (like skip links or off-canvas instructions for screen reader users)?
• Can you navigate to all controls (like links, buttons, edit fields, controls, etc) with the screen reading app?
• Do all functional images have alt text which appropriately describes the content conveyed through the image?
• Does the content make sense when nonvisually reviewed? (It is possible content may need to be reviewed, modified, or rewritten to address any gaps in its effectiveness so blind or visually impaired readers receive the same information.)

tips when Using VoiceOver for Screen Reader Accessibility Checks

VoiceOver for IOS is a convenient method for testing screen reader accessibility because the means of interacting on a touchscreen phone are virtually the same for those with and without eyesight. Apple provides a built-in screen reader, VoiceOver, which reads information you interact with by tapping directly or using a “flick” gesture (which is essentially like tabbing or arrowing through content). You can read more about VoiceOver for iOS on Apple’s accessibility page.^[1]

Turning VoiceOver On and Off

VoiceOver can be activated in two ways: (1) You can enable VoiceOver in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver, or (2) You can press your Home button three times in quick succession to activate the Universal Access menu and select to enable VoiceOver.

It is important you understand that VoiceOver essentially adds a “layer” of interaction between your standard tap gesture and interaction happening on screen, meaning it takes two taps to toggle a button, link, or other control. This is important because when you want to disable VoiceOver, you will likely need to tap the toggle switch twice.

Common Gestures with voiceOver

Taps are just like you would touch with a single finger. Multi-finger taps are always done with the fingers pressed simultaneously (there are one-, two-, three-, and four-finger gestures). A Flick gesture is a single finger swiping from one direction to another (left to right, up to down, or the inverse of either) to move between items or adjust values. A Swipe is a multi-finger flick and the gesture is typically described as if you were taking your fingers and moving left-to-right-to-left to wipe off a smudge on the touchscreen surface of your device.

One additional gesture is the VoiceOver Rotor, which uses two fingers in a semi-pinch posture where you act as if you are twisting a dial between them. The rotor is used to adjust settings or change navigation modes while using VoiceOver.

You can review a full list of gestures and their function on Apple’s accessibility website.^[2]

Additional Notes about Testing with VoiceOver on iOS

• Aim to use the Flick gesture rather than just tapping around the screen. Flicking will help you know for certain which order your content is presented in, whereas tapping skips the programmatic order to announce whatever content you have tapped.
• You can adjust the rotor to navigate by elements like headings, links, form controls, images, and others. You may have to add element types to your rotor by going to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor > Rotor Items.
• You can also use Siri to enable and disable VoiceOver.

Tips when Using JAWS for Screen Reader Accessibility Checks

When using JAWS to test the screen reader accessibility of your content, you should use your keyboard (instead of your mouse) to navigate content. Using a mouse allows you to manually move the focus of the screen reader, which is not how blind or visually impaired users would typically use a screen reader like JAWS.

Turning JAWS On and Off

You can launch JAWS from your desktop or Start Menu like any other app.

JAWS will change how you interact with your computer, relying more heavily on keyboard commands at times. To turn off JAWS at any time, press Insert + F4 and click OK to confirm closing the application.

Adjusting the Voice and Speech Rate

While JAWS is active, press Insert + J to open the JAWS menu, then navigate to Options > Voices > Voice Adjustment. From this screen, you can adjust the speech rate and other aspects of the voice being used. You can also play a sample of the current voice to preview changes.

Enabling the Virtual and Text Viewers

The Virtual Viewer will highlight the text or element currently in focus by JAWS, while the Text Viewer will show what JAWS is reading in plain text.

You can enable the Virtual Viewer by pressing Insert + J to open the JAWS menu and then navigate to Options > Basics. Check the box for Show Virtual Viewer On Screen. Click OK to save the changes.

You can enable the Text Viewer by pressing Insert + J to access the JAWS menu and then navigating to Utilities > Braille and Text Viewer and then checking Show Text Viewer.

Interacting with Content

With JAWS, you’ll interact with content by using the arrow keys to move up, down, left, and right, or the Tab key to move from element to element (like links, buttons, and other controls). To activate a link, button, or other control, you can simply press the Enter key.

For example, you can open a PDF document in Adobe and press CTRL + Home to move JAWS’ focus to the top of the document. Pressing the Down Arrow will move JAWS line by line, whereas pressing CTRL + Down Arrow will move JAWS from paragraph to paragraph. There are also quick navigation keys when interacting with structured content (see below for a full list).

To review web content, open a website or document in your browser and press CTRL + Home to navigate to the top of the window. You can easily move between text and items by pressing the Down Arrow or Tab key. Take careful note of what is being read aloud to make sure (A) it is presented in the correct order, (B) all controls (like links and buttons) are read aloud by JAWS, and (C) all content is read by JAWS as it is visually displayed.

Quick Navigation

Most screen reader users work with more than just the Down Arrow and Tab keys to navigate content, as you will quickly notice how slow this process can be as you are testing your own content. JAWS and other screen reading apps offer quick navigation keys to move by elements like headings, images, links, and more.^[3] These quick navigation keys work well in web browsers like Chrome and Edge, as well as structured content in PDFs opened with Adobe Reader.