accessible drag and drop and screen readers

[Carin Headrick]

Hello. I just joined the list, so figured I should ask my question.

I've been trying to find the best way to do accessible drag and drop, and came across the Fluid Project's method, which is pretty cool. But here's the problem we're still running into.

Because screen readers take a website and put it in a virtual buffer, allowing users to navigate it with arrows and quick navigation keys, the buffer is getting to the keyboard input first. So, the only way I have found to get access to the drag and drop functionality is to either force the screen reader to ignore the next keystroke, or turn the virtual buffer off. Is there any way you're aware of, aside from giving the drag and drop an ARIA application role, to convince the screen reader to turn the buffer off when you enter the drag and drop zone? I wish screen readers and browsers weren't prone to having ugly things happen if areas of the page had the role of application. It would be nice if a screen reader user didn't need to be a super user to be able to make use of this neat drag and drop functionality that is totally doable once the thing is getting keyboard focus.

Or, is this whole dealing with the virtual buffer thing just a necessary evil?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Carin Headrick
Accessibility Specialist
Desire2Learn Incorporated
www.desire2learn.com
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