Definition: Assistive technology is the hardware and software disabled people use to operate computers, phones and the web – screen readers, braille displays, screen magnifiers, voice control, or special keyboards and switches. An accessible website gives these tools the information they need [1].
German: Assistive Technologie · Abbreviation: AT · Last reviewed: 27 September 2026
The main kinds
| Tool | Who uses it | What the website must provide |
|---|---|---|
| Screen reader | blind and many partially sighted people | structure, names, roles, alt text |
| Braille display | blind and deafblind people | the same as for screen readers |
| Screen magnifier | partially sighted people | reflow, visible focus, related content kept close |
| Voice control | people with motor disabilities | visible labels inside the accessible name |
| Switches, mouth sticks, eye tracking | people with severe motor disabilities | full keyboard operation, large targets, no time limits |
| Captions and hearing aids | Deaf and hard-of-hearing people | captions, transcripts |
On top of that come the settings built into every operating system: magnification, high contrast, reduced motion, text-to-speech. Many people use them without ever thinking of themselves as assistive technology users.
How assistive technology understands a page
Most tools do not see the picture of a page. They read what the browser exposes through the operating system's accessibility interface: the accessibility tree, where every element has a role, a name and a state. Get that right and screen readers, voice control and switch access all work. That is why semantic HTML does so much: a real <button> brings its role, keyboard handling and focus with it.
WCAG therefore talks about information being "programmatically determinable": it must not only be visible but also present in the code, so software can pass it on [2].
Common misconceptions
- "Only a small group needs this." Many assistive features – zoom, captions, keyboard shortcuts – are used by very many people.
- "A read-aloud button on our site will help." People who need a screen reader already have one. A read-aloud button does not replace clean code, and yet another toolbar can get in the way, as with an overlay.
- "If it works with one screen reader, it works with all." Screen readers, browsers and operating systems behave differently. Test with more than one combination.
How Reviseberg handles it
Reviseberg uses axe-core to check the code-level prerequisites assistive technology depends on, and a keyboard agent operates your most important journey the way keyboard and switch users do. A screen reader, voice control or zoom agent is not part of Reviseberg today. Anything that can only be checked with a particular assistive technology stays "untested" until a person records a result and the method they used.
Related terms
Screen reader · Braille display · Screen magnifier · Voice control · Accessibility tree · Keyboard accessibility