Multilingual Accessibility in Human-Screen Reader Interaction With Web Content: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Blind people — among others with disabilities — use screen readers to interact with websites. This article examines how these assistive technologies deal with multilingual content, which is crucial for ensuring equitable access to multilingual information and activities for all. Drawing on García’s (2020) pioneering study, which systematically analysed a wide range of screen readers in a multilingual web environment, we introduce a broader, more academic perspective, using qualitative analysis tools such as thematic coding. We have enhanced García’s (2020) test pages, methodology, and analytical focus to identify specific translation-oriented challenges in the multilingual performance of screen readers and to classify them into a set of categories and subcategories of translation and localisation phenomena that may be useful in future research studies and interaction designs.