Is CAPTCHA accessible?
How Does CAPTCHA Work?
People with disabilities will run into obvious problems with these tests. Those with sight loss or dyslexia won’t be able to complete an image-based CAPTCHA and people with hearing loss won’t be able to complete an audio CAPTCHA. Some users might be both deaf and blind, and so cannot pass either test. Additionally, most CAPTCHAs are presented only in English, which poses problems for anyone who doesn’t understand the language.
Can CAPTCHA be made Accessible?
It’s clear that CAPTCHA tests were not originally designed with accessibility in mind. Their most common formats break several criteria outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 (WCAG).Text alternatives are not provided for image or audio-based CAPTCHAs because it defeats their purpose. Some website owners try to solve this issue by implementing more than one type of test, allowing users to choose whether they want to complete an image or audio CAPTCHA. While this offers freedom of choice to individuals with sight or hearing loss, it still causes problems for people with cognitive or learning disabilities, non-English speakers, and people with more than one disability.
Other website owners have implemented different tests entirely, such as maths or word questions, trivia, and logic puzzles. But again, this poses issues for those with learning or cognitive disabilities, who may find these questions challenging.