Jaws announces aria-roledescription value for all semantic and interactive elements when used with the group role

[Wildebrew]

Expected behavior when you use aria-roledescription on a group role.

• Jaws should announce the aria-roldescription value (e.g. "slide") + accessible name when you navigate into and out of the group element in browse mode.
• Jaws should not announce the aria-roledescription value while your navigating between semantic or interactive element inside the slide element

Actual behavior:

If you put role="group" and aria-roledescription="slide" + an accessible name on a container element, Jaws announces the word "slide" in place of the semantic role of all its children.
In the attached file, navigate the first slide with arrow keys (in browse mode).
Notice how Jaws

• says "slide" instead of "heading level 3" for the heading
• "slide" instead of "link" for the "learn more" link,
• "slide" instead of "button" for the sign up button.

If you use the tab key, Jaws does say "slide link" for the link but it announces "slide" instead of "button" for the "sign up" button.
Jaws should've announced "heading level 3" for the heading "link" for the link and "button" for the button.

The attached example has an identical setup using role="article" in place of role="group" and that example works exactly as expected.

This is troublesome because the ARIA Authoring Practices recommends using the group role + aria-roledescription="slide" for slides in a carousel component.

I would not expect Jaws to do this. If you use role="group" without aria-roledescription the group role is not announced for elements inside the group, only as you enter and leave the group.

[Wildebrew]

This happens with all versions of Jaws tested (including 2024 and 2025) in Chrome and Firefox (have not tested Edge but assume it'd be the same).

[JAWS-test]

Duplicate of #510, #407 and #288

[Wildebrew]

My goodness me, I even filed one of those issues (albeit a long time ago). I'll go and give issue 288 a bump, adding the test file and indicating that the problem is still present in Jaws 2025.

…

On Mon, Feb 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM JAWS-test ***@***.***> wrote: Duplicate of #407 <#407> and #288 <#288> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#889 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABHMYWYRF57MK5GVJMMFQPD2QI2Q5AVCNFSM6AAAAABXJ7L272VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMNRTHE2DGNZWGM> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> [image: JAWS-test]*JAWS-test* left a comment (FreedomScientific/standards-support#889) <#889 (comment)> Duplicate of #407 <#407> and #288 <#288> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#889 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABHMYWYRF57MK5GVJMMFQPD2QI2Q5AVCNFSM6AAAAABXJ7L272VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMNRTHE2DGNZWGM> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

[JAWS-test]

Please do not extend 288, because the ticket is closed. The other two are open. It is sufficient if one ticket remains open.

[JAWS-test]

Incidentally, I cannot confirm that the problem still occurs with JAWS 2025. In the examples I checked from the various tickets on this page, the problem occurred until JAWS 2024.

[Wildebrew]

This no longer happens when using role="region" or role="article" on the element with aria-roledescription. It only happens when using role="group" Try opening the attached .html file I created and uploaded (let me know if you have difficulties accessing it, I could create a CodePen). In that file, navigate through the two fake slide examples with Jaws. The first example uses role="group" and aria-roledescription="slide". It has all the problems described. The second example uses role="article" and works as expected).

…

On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 2:18 AM JAWS-test ***@***.***> wrote: Incidentally, I cannot confirm that the problem still occurs with JAWS 2025. In the examples I checked from the various tickets on this page, the problem occurred until JAWS 2024. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#889 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABHMYW22AFX5UYFA3QQLSL32QLNE3AVCNFSM6AAAAABXJ7L272VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMNRUG44TSOJUGQ> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> [image: JAWS-test]*JAWS-test* left a comment (FreedomScientific/standards-support#889) <#889 (comment)> Incidentally, I cannot confirm that the problem still occurs with JAWS 2025. In the examples I checked from the various tickets on this page, the problem occurred until JAWS 2024. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#889 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABHMYW22AFX5UYFA3QQLSL32QLNE3AVCNFSM6AAAAABXJ7L272VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMNRUG44TSOJUGQ> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

[JAWS-test]

I can't find a file. Please create a CodePen

[JAWS-test]

Current Chrome and JAWS 2025.2412.50: I have tested this with role=group, role=article and role=toolbar as the container role. I have nested many elements for testing (links, buttons, checkboxes, input fields, lists, tables, headings).
Whereas with JAWS up to 2024, aria-roledescription is output instead of the role for most elements, with JAWS 2025 this only happens for the headings. The role of the container is irrelevant.

Conclusion: The problem still occurs with JAWS 2025, but to a very limited extent. There are significant improvements compared to JAWS 2024