Jul 12, 2026 Khaled is 34. He works as an accountant at a company in Riyadh. He uses the internet daily: for work, for errands, for everything everyone else uses it for. His vision began declining in his mid-twenties and was completely gone four years ago. He now navigates entirely with the NVDA screen reader and a keyboard. No mouse. No touch screen.
What follows is not fiction. It is his ordinary Tuesday.
| 8:15 AM | He needs to renew a subscription to a cloud service |
Khaled opens his browser and navigates to the website. His screen reader begins reading the page, and this is where the first problem starts.
🔊 What Khaled’s screen reader reads aloud:
“Link. Link. Image. Button. Link. Link. Link.”
“Click here. Click here. Click here. Click here.”
Four consecutive links all labelled “Click here.” No context. No description. Khaled cannot tell which one leads to the subscription and which leads to cancellation. He tabs through the page repeatedly, trying to assemble a mental picture from scattered fragments.
Nine minutes later, he finds the right link. A task that takes any other user two minutes has taken him eleven.
🔍 What’s the technical problem?
Links without descriptive text – the screen reader has nothing to say except “link”
Images without alt text – some are read as file names: “img_2847_final_v3.png”
The fix: real descriptive text for every link and every image – three minutes of work ends an hour of frustration
| 9:40 AM | He tries to book an appointment at a medical clinic |
The clinic has a beautifully designed website; animated transitions, harmonious colors, a polished interface. To anyone who can see it. For Khaled:
🔊 What Khaled’s screen reader reads aloud:
“Calendar. Graphic. Element. Element. Element.”
“Monday Tuesday Wednesday – not clickable.”
“Button: undefined.”
The date picker is built entirely in custom JavaScript that doesn’t communicate with assistive technologies. Interactive buttons carry no accessible names. The calendar is visually present – but effectively invisible to a screen reader.
“Sometimes I discover that what I thought was a button is just a decorated div. I press it ten times, and nothing happens.”
Khaled gives up. He asks his wife to book the appointment on his behalf. Not because he is incapable, but because the website decided that for him.
🔍 What’s the technical problem?
Interactive elements built on <div> instead of <button> – not recognized as buttons
Custom date pickers without ARIA support – unreadable to screen readers
The fix: use correct semantic HTML first, then ARIA only where HTML has no native equivalent
| 11:10 AM | He attempts to complete a government transaction online |
The government portal requires a CAPTCHA – images to be visually identified. No audio alternative. No other option.
🔊 What Khaled’s screen reader reads aloud:
“CAPTCHA. Image. Please verify you are not a robot.”
“Text field: Enter the text shown in the image.”
The text shown in the image. Khaled cannot see the image. There is no “Listen to the code” button. No link saying “Contact us for an alternative.” The digital door is locked with a key he was never given.
He will need to take a day off to visit the physical service office – the exact trip the portal was designed to replace.
🔍 What’s the technical problem?
Visual-only CAPTCHA with no audio or logical alternative — blocks access entirely
WCAG criterion 3.3.8 (Level AA) now explicitly prohibits this
The fix: audio CAPTCHA, SMS verification, or a simple logical challenge
Three Hours – Three Walls
In 3 hours, Khaled encountered three websites and three entirely different barriers. He had no difficulty understanding. No difficulty deciding. He ran into code that was written without him in the room.
The numbers say more than 285 million people worldwide live with visual impairment. Across the Arab world, millions of them go online every day and hit the same walls.
“I don’t want a special experience made for me. I want the same experience.”
That sentence says everything. Digital inclusion doesn’t mean building a simplified version for blind users – it means building one website that works for everyone, correctly, from the start.
How many people like Khaled visit your website every day and leave silently?
Khaled’s day has ended… but tomorrow will bring the same challenges unless the websites he uses change.
Change starts with a simple decision: to design digital experiences that don’t exclude anyone.
With Hemam Tools, you can identify accessibility barriers on your website and remove them, so your services become truly accessible to everyone, without exception.
