Accessible Apple 2017-2018: The 12 Requests of Christmas – Day 3

This is the third post in our annual 12-part series covering the accessibility features we would like to see Apple bring to its products in the coming year. This series is being put together by Accessibility Editor Alex Jurgensen, with the help of several contributors.

For the third request of Christmas, we ask Apple to give to us:

3. A Fix to a Not So Long-Standing Mail Bug

Yesterday, I wrote about a long-standing bug in Apple Mail on the Mac that makes it difficult for VoiceOver users to review email addresses for accuracy. Today, I’ll write about a bug in Mail on the Mac that is new this year in Mac OS 10.13 (High Sierra). The bug causes VoiceOver to read “attachment, image” when encountering an attachment while composing an email. The expected behaviour is that VoiceOver should read the name of the attachment, followed by “attachment, image”. The fact that VoiceOver does not read the file name of the currently focused attachment means that VoiceOver users cannot determine whether they have included the correct file as an attachment to an email. This has the potential to lead to simple mixups of files being attached at best and devastating or embarrassing mixups at worst.

We’d like to see Apple address this bug and restore VoiceOver’s ability to read the name of the currently selected attachment in Mail’s compose window, so that VoiceOver users can once again send attachments with confidence.

For more things We’d like Apple to include in upcoming releases, please see:

2. A Fix to a Long-Standing Mail Bug

1. Easier Web Browsing with VoiceOver

Accessible Apple articles take a significant amount of volunteer effort to put together. This year, we ask readers to consider making a donation to support the development of an independent living skills training centre for training Canadians who are blind, partially sighted, and deaf blind in independent living skills such as assistive technology, literacy, independent travel, cooking, etc. These skills are essential and training centres help provide them. More information and donation links can be found here.