Inside Screen Readers: Demystifying the Black Box

Description

Screen readers are essential tools that enable millions of people with visual impairments to interact with the digital world. Yet for many teams, they remain a black box—mysterious, complex, and often misunderstood. This lack of understanding can lead to frustrating accessibility issues, wasted development effort, and poor user experiences. This session pulls back the curtain on how screen readers actually work. We will explore their key components, including accessibility APIs, virtual buffers, navigation models, and speech output engines. Through clear explanations and live demonstrations, attendees will see exactly how content travels from code to a user’s ears or fingertips.
By demystifying this technology, participants will gain the insight needed to design, build, and test with confidence. They will also learn how to troubleshoot issues more effectively and collaborate across roles to create more accessible and inclusive products.