Screen readers are software applications that visually impaired users can use to navigate a website and read the web content aloud. To enable a screen reader to read nontextual objects in your application, such as vector art and animations, use the Accessibility panel to associate a name and description with the object. The keyboard shortcuts you define can allow users to use the screen reader to navigate through your document with ease.

To expose graphic objects, use the Accessibility panel or ActionScript to provide a description.

You cannot control how any screen reader behaves; you can control only the content, which you can mark up in your Flash applications to expose the text and ensure that screen reader users can activate the controls. You decide which objects in the Flash application are exposed to screen readers, provide descriptions for them, and decide the order in which they are exposed to screen readers. You cannot force screen readers to read specific text at specific times or control the manner in which that content is read. Test your applications with a variety of screen readers to ensure that they perform as you expect.