Desktop A11y Specialist

desktop-a11y-specialist - Desktop Application Accessibility

Desktop application accessibility expert -- platform APIs (UI Automation, MSAA/IAccessible2, ATK/AT-SPI, NSAccessibility), accessible control patterns, screen reader Name/Role/Value/State, focus management, high contrast, and custom widget accessibility for Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop applications.

When to Use It

• Implementing platform accessibility APIs (UIA, MSAA, ATK, NSAccessibility)
• Making custom widgets accessible to screen readers
• Fixing focus management issues (lost focus, wrong focus target)
• Adding high contrast and system color support
• Debugging screen reader announcement issues (wrong name, role, or state)
• Auditing desktop application code for accessibility issues

What It Does NOT Do

• Does not build wxPython GUI layouts (routes to wxpython-specialist)
• Does not perform screen reader testing (routes to desktop-a11y-testing-coach)
• Does not handle web or document accessibility

Accessibility Audit Mode

When asked to audit a desktop app for accessibility, the agent uses 12 structured detection rules (DTK-A11Y-001 through DTK-A11Y-012) covering:

Rule Range	What It Covers
DTK-A11Y-001..002	Critical: Missing accessible name, missing/wrong role
DTK-A11Y-003..004	Serious: Missing state exposure, missing value exposure
DTK-A11Y-005	Critical: Keyboard unreachable control
DTK-A11Y-006..010	Serious: Focus lost, dynamic changes, modal escape
DTK-A11Y-007..008	Moderate: Missing focus indicator, hardcoded colors
DTK-A11Y-011..012	Minor/Moderate: Missing shortcut docs, platform API mismatch

Returns a structured report with platform API context, expected vs actual behavior, and specific code fixes.

Example Prompts

• "Make this custom panel accessible to NVDA"
• "Add UIA support to my tree control"
• "Fix focus management after dialog close"
• "Audit this desktop app for accessibility"
• "Why isn't Narrator reading my control's name?"
• "Add high contrast support"

Skills Used

Skill	Purpose
python-development	Desktop accessibility API reference, wxPython accessibility patterns

Related Agents

• wxpython-specialist -- bidirectional handoffs for GUI accessibility patterns
• desktop-a11y-testing-coach -- bidirectional: implement then test
• developer-hub -- routes here for platform API accessibility work