Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
Websites increasingly deploy anti-scraping techniques like dynamic loading to protect data from bots, but these “often block accessibility for users with disabilities by breaking compatibility with screen readers and assistive tools.” The article names this a “silent trade-off” that “erects barriers for human users relying on assistive technologies,” and presses for inclusive web design that balances protection and access.
Concrete barriers are spelled out: “rendering text as images or using canvas elements” that screen readers cannot interpret; JavaScript-heavy patterns and dynamic loading that strip predictability; and single-page applications that “load data dynamically,” which can confuse assistive technology unless they include “Accessible Rich Internet Applications” attributes. These choices break compatibility with screen readers and assistive tools and defy the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.”
The article situates the harm inside a “technological arms race.” As scraping grows more sophisticated, some sites escalate to “rate limiting,” “challenges that appear unpredictably,” obfuscated markup, and server-level blocking. Presented under Balancing Protection and Usability, these moves raise hurdles for real users instead of only stopping automated tools.
Toward Inclusive Defenses outlines what responsible teams must do: use clear, meaningful structure and proper tagging; keep loading predictable; follow guidance from the “Web Accessibility Initiative” and align choices with the “Americans with Disabilities Act.” For Community Builders, the charge is to deliver protections that safeguard data without excluding users with disabilities—and to treat barrier removal as core work, not an afterthought.
Read the full article: Anti-Scraping Tools Undermine Web Accessibility for Disabled Users. By Victoria Mossi.
