Why Trying to Detect Screen Reader Usage Is a Bad Idea

Recently, someone asked me:

"Can we track how many users are using a screen reader?"

It wasn’t asked with bad intent, just a genuine curiosity around where to focus accessibility efforts. But that question stuck with me.

At first, I wasn’t sure how to respond. It felt wrong, but I didn’t have the words for why. So I did some research and came across an excellent piece by Marco Zehe, a long-time accessibility advocate. Here's what I learned:

The Core Issues

• 🔒 Screen reader detection invades privacy: Assistive tech usage is often tied to a person’s disability status. Detecting it without consent is a violation of personal boundaries.
• 🎯 It leads to incorrect assumptions: Not all screen reader users are blind, and not all blind users use screen readers the same way. Detection is often crude and misleading.
• 🚫 It can cause more harm than good: Tailoring experiences based on detection can introduce inconsistency, bugs, and exclusion — like the "text-only" versions of websites from the early web.

Trying to detect assistive tech is like asking someone to declare their disability before entering a building.

A Better Mindset for Developers

We shouldn’t wait for analytics to tell us that screen reader users exist.

We build accessible websites so that everyone — regardless of ability or tools — can use them. Whether or not we know who’s using what.

Instead of asking who is using a screen reader, I try to ask:

Have I built this interface in a way that supports assistive technology?

That’s where our effort will make the most impact. 😊

Have you ever been asked a similar question about detecting assistive technology?
How did you respond?