Improve Accessibility

Operation

Implement the requested coherent change at the owning source and update directly affected consumers. An earlier audit is optional when the user and repository already establish the target. Validate the changed behavior, then stop when the requested scope is complete.

Goal

Improve one coherent accessible path or shared accessible component behavior. The diff should make the selected interaction perceivable, operable, understandable, and regression-resistant without introducing speculative abstractions.

Scope selection

• If the user named a route, component, form, modal, table, keyboard issue, screen-reader issue, or accessibility audit task brief, polish that owner and directly affected states.
• If the request is broad, inspect primary flows and select the highest-confidence accessibility fix with meaningful task-completion or safety impact.
• Include related labels, validation, focus management, state announcements, tests, docs, and stories when they belong to the same accessibility defect.
• Avoid visual redesigns, unrelated copy rewrites, dependency changes, and broad framework changes unless the accessibility fix requires them.

Polish targets

• Semantic HTML first; ARIA only when semantics do not express the interaction.
• Accessible names/descriptions for controls, links, fields, icons, dialogs, tables, filters, and destructive actions.
• Keyboard reachability, tab order, focus visible state, focus return, escape/close behavior, and modal/popover traps.
• Form validation associations, inline errors, summary errors, helper text, required/optional clarity, and server error recovery.
• Live/status announcements for async updates, toasts, progress, loading, partial success, and error states.
• Directly affected tests, accessibility checks, stories, snapshots, and docs when the repo uses them.

Implementation principles

• Reuse existing accessible components, hooks, helpers, tokens, and test patterns.
• Fix the shared owner when the same accessibility defect appears across surfaces.
• Preserve visible behavior unless a visible change is needed for accessibility.
• Do not suppress lint/a11y warnings without a specific repo-compatible rationale.

Validation

Run relevant repository-native checks. When possible, perform a keyboard trace for the changed path and use preview/accessibility tooling. State any screen-reader or browser limitations plainly.