Success Criterion 1.2.5
Conformance level AA

Audio Description Toggle That Doesn’t Actually Work

1.2.5 — Audio Description (Prerecorded)

Scenario

Setting

An e-book reader's library page

What’s wrong

Player offers audio description toggle that doesn't function or resets on each chapter.

Example

<div class="chapter-player">
  <!-- The audio-description setting resets to "off" every time a new
       chapter loads, with no persistent preference saved -->
  <video src="/chapters/ch04-illustration.mp4" controls></video>
</div>

Why it matters

A blind reader turns on audio description at the start of chapter one, only to find it silently switched off again at the start of chapter two, forcing constant re-enabling.

How to test

Toggle the AD control in the player: if it doesn't actually enable the described track, or resets to off on each new chapter, it fails.

How to fix

A user's accessibility setting should persist across an entire book or session, not reset by default on every new page or chapter.

<div class="chapter-player">
  <video src="/chapters/ch04-illustration.mp4" controls></video>
</div>
<!-- Audio-description preference is now stored at the account or book
     level and applied automatically to every chapter -->

Outcome

A blind reader sets audio description once and it stays on through every chapter of the book.

Who is affected

Blind and low-vision readers lose their accessibility preference repeatedly throughout a single book, forcing constant manual re-selection.

Learn more

Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)