Dear community,
I am starting this topic to bring attention to the fact that the web interface of ChatGPT is currently lacking in the area of accessibility for blind users because most buttons are unlabeled.
Background: An unlabeled button will be announced simply as “button” by the screen reader. There is no indication to a blind user what the button does when activated/clicked.
I have contacted support and was told the issue has been forwarded to the appropriate team and would be addressed promptly. This was months ago, however, so what definition of “promptly” applies here is anyone’s guess. Another valid question is whether any human being has even seen my request.
The sad fact remains that the interface does not conform to current accessibility standards, and that it would have been easy to address most of the problems by labeling all buttons. I will leave it as an exercise to the reader to deduce what this oversight implies.
Can anyone confirm my findings? From your own experience, does it work better with certain combinations of browsers and screen readers?
What other channels besides contacting support can and should we use so that this inclusivity issue gets the attention it deserves?
I use ChatGPTPlus for work so this problem is impacting my productivity.
Best regards,
Felix Grützmacher
Android app also lack of accessibility feature.
They have broken accessibility yet again. Support at least responded with a polite message, but they gave no commitment for when the accessibility issues will be fixed.
They have broken accessibility yet again. Support at least responded with a polite message, but they gave no commitment for when the accessibility issues will be fixed.
I’m tired of the PR about how AI breaks barriers for people with disabilities while they quietly increase the accessibility gap without media attention. If you are going to use us as a feel good PR story, at least have the accessibility to back it up.
In Settings > Personalizations > Advanced:
When the website says “switch off,” that leads me to believe it’s off. Same with “switch on.” If this said something like: “Web search currently enabled,” it would be much less confusing.
I took a screenshot, showed it to ChatGPT, and discovered that the search ability was, in fact, off. Then, back in Personalization, I turned search on. It turned on successfully.
Using NVDA. I do not have JAWS on this PC, so I don’t know what JAWS users will see when changing these settings.