Using screen readers with DHIS2

Implementation - Implémentation
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Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone has explored how to make DHIS2 more accessible for users with additional needs, especially using screen readers with DHIS2?

Thank you!

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Welcome to the community @enightingale!

Sorry you’ve not received a response. I’m not well aware of a specific dhis2 tool but maybe it could be created as a feature request?

I know that for accessibility tools there are probably tools that come with OS’s (on computers, tablets, and mobile phones) which work on all software/apps.

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Hello @enightingale,

Accessibility is certainly something we have in mind and that we’re hoping to improve on. In the first stages, this means improving foundational things like color contrast, text size, offering meaningful feedback about current status, and so on. We’re building these things into our UI library, so that all DHIS2 apps get those benefits.

Right now, we’re still in the process of making sure all our components have this foundational accessibility. I’m hoping that by making sure we use logical layouts and elements in our apps then they’ll be usable with screen readers and other assistive technology. Ideally we’d be able to do some testing around this, but as of now this is out of scope of our work.

I’m very open to discussing more, perhaps if you had particular use cases in mind? Feel free to reach out to me.

  • Joe
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Hi @joecooper,

Thank you for your response! This is really helpful to know. The use case is for an NGO working to end preventible blindness, so DHIS2 accessibility for users with visual impairments is (unsurprisingly) a high priority for them. Their DHIS2 instance is currently version 2.35 (likely to be upgraded) and they are performing data entry and analytics in aggregate model, so would be most concerned with the Data Entry, Dashboards, Data Visualizer and Maps apps.

Can you provide any timeline for your team’s work on these accessibility thresholds for the core DHIS2 apps? And where you are currently at with these updates? i.e. are most native DHIS2 apps AA or AAA compliant according to the accessibility ratings (https://accessible-colors.com/)?

I need to gather more information about what kind of screen readers they have available, as I’m aware that different screen reading technology will interact with DHIS2 differently.

Thanks so much for your help with this so far!

Ema

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