Does disabling right-click on a web page affect accessibility for the disabled?

Question

I seek to make an argument against disabling right-click on a webpage, but my target audience is difficult.

I think we can all agree that disabling right-click doesn't improve web page security . I'm wondering, though, does disabling right-click have any specific impact on the accessibility of a website for those using screen readers, or other alternative methods of web page access?

There are plenty of good reasons to argue against disabling of right-click, but one that I think would gain some traction with my target audience is a citation that clearly shows that the prevention of right clicks would interfere with the level of accessibility. Even better would be to show that such a thing might violate Section 508 compliance.

For those of you using screen readers, or other alternative methods of web page access, does disabling right click on a web page cause any problems?

Answer 1

It is difficult to point to specific ( W3C WCAG ) accessibility guidelines that disabling right-click prevents. You could possibly say that you are preventing people from using their browsers to look up words and phrases ( 3.1.3 Unusual words ), but that is at level-AAA, a higher target than most aim for.

The reason it is not highlighted in the guidelines is because it affects everyone, not just people with disabilities, and the guidelines exclude things that are not specific to disability.

People using the keyboard and screenreaders would not be affected unless you target key-presses as well as right-click.

I think the better question for them is: what is the value you are achieving considering the annoyance you are creating?

Answer 2

I don't really know if it affects accesibility, but it surely affects usability..

Example 1

Right button - Open link in new tab/window Cannot be done

Example 2

Right button - Copy/Paste Cannot be done

Example 3

You loose all that fancy browser features as "Search on google", "Check grammar", etc when right clicking some text.

Example 4

If this also aborts tap-and-hold in mobile, that is awful..

Answer 3

To be honest, I think that most of the screenreader users do not use a mouse at all. So disabling "right click" will have, in many cases , no effect "for those using screen readers".

But. But. But. Disabling the contextual menu means that your might disable some of your user agent assistive technologies (AT). And no matter what they are, and who they targets. Your web content must not interfere with the shortcuts provided by your user agent.

http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/ensure-compat-rsv.html

The purpose of this guideline is to support compatibility with current and future user agents, especially assistive technologies (AT). This is done both by 1) ensuring that authors do not do things that would break AT (eg, poorly formed markup) or circumvent AT (eg, by using unconventional markup or code)

Answer 4

It pisses people off, and makes you look rather arrogant, especially if you make some snide remark like "you don't have permission to right click" as if I need you permission! Doesn't stop me from doing anything, though it does speak volumes about about both the character and intellect of the person who does it.

It is just another example of how the true purpose of java scripts is to allow webmasters to do things they shouldn't be doing.