But instead of using their eyes to skim a page, they use their fingers and a keyboard. Technology aside, the way screen reader users navigate is not all that different from how someone without a visual impairment would. Let’s look at an example of how someone might use a screen reader to read a web page. How do screen reader users navigate a page? Since most visually impaired people cannot use a mouse to navigate a computer screen, screen readers rely on keystrokes to move through page content. Screen readers like JAWS can also convert it Braille output (if you have a Braille display) and allow users to jump to different elements around the screen. Unlike a “text-to-speech” function on a computer, they have the ability to do more than just read the text out loud from top to bottom. Screen readers are sophisticated technology. But did you know how such individuals access the internet? They use assistive technology called a “screen reader,” which speaks aloud the text on a digital screen using a speech synthesizer.

You may know someone with a visual disability-perhaps you have one yourself. Worldwide, there were approximately 250 million people who have difficulty seeing in 2015, 36 million of whom are entirely blind. There are about 12 million people living with a vision impairment in the United States alone.

Blind accessibility screen reader