Most of those taking the survey are of working age, between 21 and 60. A total of 584 responses were from those between 21 and 40, with 553 between 41 and 60.
89.9% said they had a disability, which was made up of 76.6% blindness and 19.9% visual impairment or low vision. This has some interesting impacts later on which we’ll discuss in due course. 16.7% of respondents had multiple disabilities, with 5.3% being both blind and deaf/hard of hearing.
All this to say that while the WebAIM survey gives us fascinating insight into screen reader usage and preferences, it’s far from perfect. It’s not controlled, so some of the data may be slightly skewed. But with that said, let’s get into the interesting stuff.
What's the most popular screen reader?
Around the world, JAWS was ahead of NVDA in both the USA and Australia, but NVDA was ahead everywhere else including Europe. In their home markets, JAWS had 55.5% usage in the states, while NVDA had 37.5% usage in its home market Australia. It’s interesting that JAWS is still beating NVDA in its own backyard with 45.8% of the Australian pie, but who knows if we’ll see this change in the next survey.
Accessing the internet
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What are the biggest issues screen reader users face online?
Before I answer this question, I need you to tell me which of these fire hydrants is the right way up. I’ll also let you listen to nine songs and tell me which three have a consistent rhythm if you prefer. If you take more than 90 seconds, I’ll make you start again.
CAPTCHAs are the most problematic issue reported by users by a country mile. They can be frustrating for many people, but for those with disabilities they can be a total game stopper.
Other points of frustration include interactive elements, link labels that don’t make sense, and changing content on screens.
These things are all relatively easy to fix, so it can certainly be frustrating when you face these silly accessibility roadblocks.
Other interesting data from the WebAIM Survey
While most questions on the survey relate to screen readers, some other questions were also asked.
One of the more interesting questions related to virtual meetings. When asked if people should describe what they look like in virtual meetings and webinars, the majority said no. Some do like it though, as 31.8% said yes.
In data that I personally found interesting, Braille usage with screen readers is on the rise. 38% used Braille as an output for their screen reader, up from 33.3% in 2017.
The most popular screen reader to use with Braille was VoiceOver, at 54.2%. Meanwhile 42.4% of NVDA users and 35.1% of JAWS users work with Braille. I think this is another one of those stats getting slightly twisted by the high proportion of blind respondents, but it’s clear that many people are working very successfully using Braille.
People are more likely to use mobile apps compared to websites, with 58% preferring apps compared with 42% choosing the web for common tasks.
Digital accessibility trends
When asked what would have a bigger impact for accessibility online, a massive 85.9% mentioned more accessible websites. That compares with just 14.1% referencing better assistive technologies.
The main reason Vially exists is to help make the web more accessible to everyone, so this statistic is really interesting to us. It shows that screen readers and other assistive technologies have matured to a stage that it’s now down to individual websites to ensure they’re accessible.
With legislation like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming next year and mandating digital accessibility, things are hopefully about to get way better.
Interestingly, the WebAIM survey shows that more and more people are referring to better website accessibility as having a greater impact on their use of the Internet.
If you want to discuss your website’s accessibility, please do reach out to us at Vially. We can check your websites, documents, and apps to ensure they comply with the highest accessibility standards.
People have mixed views on accessibility over the past year, with 34.6% saying they think things have improved. 46.8% however saw no major change. 18.6% think things have actually gotten worse, which is really bad news. That’s nearly one in every five people, so more clearly needs to be done.
The future of screen readers
There are loads of stats in the WebAIM survey, but hopefully we’ve covered all the main bits.
It’s cool to see people using some of the lesser known screen readers like Orca and Jieshuo, and it’s fantastic that screen readers generally look to be reaching maturity.
I hope that web accessibility improves more consistently going forward, and I’d like to think Vially can be part of that solution.
As for the future, who knows what we’ll see in the next survey. Will we start looking at screen readers on other platforms like VoiceOver for Vision Pro? Or will we be using JAWS on some fancy new AI-powered gadget yet to be imagined? Time will tell.
For now, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the current state of play in the screen reader world. Be sure to share your thoughts with us over on LinkedIn and if you’d like an accessibility audit of your website or app, just reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you!
