Understanding the True User Experience with Assistive Technology

July 17, 2025
Toledo Tech Loft

By Toledo Codes · Published July 27, 2026

James Warnken explored how design decisions shape the experience of people using assistive technology. Demonstrations of screen readers, magnification, contrast settings, and captions made the discussion concrete, showing how the same content can work differently depending on how someone accesses it.

Keyboard guidance focused on visible focus, a logical navigation order, and controls that users can reach, operate, and leave. A screen-reader comparison presented the same website with and without a visual reference, illustrating how looking at the page can fill gaps that an audio-only user encounters. The talk connected that experience to semantic HTML, clear headings, labels, and instructions.

Magnification examples showed content becoming clipped or difficult to use at different zoom levels, while contrast themes exposed content that blended into its background. A video comparison examined the experience of reading captions without hearing the audio, highlighting the music and other sounds that speech-only captions can miss.

The Q&A covered AI, accessibility testing, and emerging interfaces. Warnken emphasized manual testing and feedback from people with disabilities alongside automated tools. An image-description example illustrated the distinction: a check can confirm that alternative text exists without determining whether it describes the image accurately. The discussion encouraged teams to test their work from several perspectives and involve users in improving it.

Understanding the True User Experience with Assistive Technology

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Slides

Understanding the True User Experience with Assistive Technology

Photos

Slides