ThoughtExchange is built with accessibility in mind, and the participant experience is designed to interact with standard assistive technology.

Our participation experience has been most commonly assessed using the following combinations:

• MacOS: Google Chrome and VoiceOver
• Windows: Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and either:
  • NVDA in FOCUS mode, 
  • JAWS in FORMS mode,
  • Windows Narrator.

Navigating the Exchange

An exchange can be navigated using standard keyboard conventions: 

• Tab/Shift-Tab to cycle through focus landmarks on the page
• Arrow keys to navigate within landmarks
• Spacebar and/or the Return/Enter key to interact with the currently selected element.

Rating Thoughts

For users who wish to use keyboard shortcuts to rate thoughts within the Star step, the number keys (1-5) can be used to rate the thoughts by enabling keyboard shortcuts from the Participation Help Menu at the top of the page. 

Logging in to ThoughtExchange

For accessibility users who are required to log in to ThoughtExchange, the login experience can be made accessible by pressing Ctrl-Shift-E. This will also be provided as an audible cue for participants with screen readers enabled. 

This key combination will not work if keyboard focus is on an interactive element within the page, eg. a text input field. In this case, the user should back out of this element in order to successfully enable accessibility options.

Note: Leader and administrator features such as the Leader App, Discover Dashboard and Te Labs do not fully support accessibility options at this time.

Our goal is to remove any barriers to joining in on the conversation and make the exchange as beneficial as it can be to everyone, without limitations on the participation experience. Please reach out to us at help@thoughtexchange.com if you have any feedback or questions.