Information request:I recently had a question from our Counselling and Accessibility Services...
Information request:
I recently had a question from our Counselling and Accessibility Services department regarding a student having problems with NVDA and the new HTML editor. I think this is a computer specific issue but I'd like to exhaust resources. I was not able to replicate this issue. The student is quite familiar with Brightspace as you can tell, and he's not overly concerned but wants to report it. I'd appreciate any insight you might have if you've run into this before.
Below is all the information we’ve been able to gather from him about the system he is using followed by a description of the issue:
Running NVDA 2020.4 on Windows 10 Pro (version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1466)).
"It happened once last semester, but I was able to ignore it and pass it off as a fluke, as it was easy enough to get around using other communication methods.
However, recent experiences have confirmed that it is, in fact, an ongoing (and seemingly random) issue.
In fact, I may have written to Joyce about it previously, I can't recall.
In any case. The issue I'm running into, I have experienced with composing a message via FOL mail. I am able to enter the textfield region and I see some controls. However, when I try to type text into the body of my message, nothing happens.
My screenreader deviates from its typical behaviour here in that it announces what letters I am entering, even though it is set not to do so. So my keystrokes are in fact being recognized. However, nothing actually gets entered into the textfield.
I am able to arrow throughout the field and see what text it contains, so I know the field is in focus. However, I am unable to manipulate it in any way whatsoever.
While some have suggested it is an issue with my browser, I can unfortunately confirm that it is not, as it has happened across multiple browsers, even one based on Chrome.
To make matters worse, and perhaps even more unsettling, this issue now appears to extend outside of FOL mail, occurring when I try and compose a message in the class discussion section of FOL. This too however seems to be hit or miss.
My major concern here is that this issue may pop up on a test in situations where I am required to do more than fill in a single blank answer.
I feel it important to note that last year, I did not have any problems with this whatsoever. However, it seems that FOL underwent potential UI changes over the summer. I say this as the composition area looks significantly different than it did before, with some controls disappearing entirely."
Comments
-
Hi @Kathy Day
My apologies for the delay here. Just taking a closer look at this one now- with some folks more skilled than I! Will post an update with more info pending their review
-
No problem about the delay Stefanie.
So that you know, I have already shared with the student that I thought he might be in the toolbar, which is where I hear characters repeated when typing. Also, have indicated that sometimes the screen reader may not recognize the app and he could force it. Both of these suggestions didn't work for him.
-
Hi. I don't know why I wasn't receiving notifications about this post, but I am thoroughly confused if the last suggestion didn't work. Grasping at straws here, but is he using any add-ons that might be messing with this? Totally desperate suggestion no. 2 but when it's happening, would he be able to nip onto zoom and make me a nice screen recording complete with sound? I would love to figure this out for him and in case it happens to anyone else.
-
It's okay, you and I have discussed this via email, I added it here too in case someone else has run into it.
I will see if he's willing to record it when it's happening. I am communicating with Jesse through someone in the Counselling and Accessibility office so I may not hear back for a bit.
-
Great! I would love to hear about it too so we can figure it out!
-
Just a note that I never did hear back from the student. It's frustrating when that happens because you never know if something worked or they just gave up.
admin