Accessibility & Screen Readers

Accessibility & Screen Readers

To make games inclusive to all players, Unity supports screen readers, high-contrast layouts, and keyboard-only menu navigation.

The Accessibility Module

The Accessibility module (available in modern Unity versions) bridge the gap between in-game UI text and native system screen readers (like VoiceOver on iOS or TalkBack on Android):

• Attached to UI Toolkit elements or GameObjects, it provides semantic labels (alt text) for images and buttons.
• Screen readers intercept these labels and read them aloud to visually impaired players.

Keyboard & Controller Navigation

For players who cannot use a mouse, menus must support keyboard/gamepad tab navigation:

• UI Toolkit Focus Ring: Configure Focus properties on elements so players can cycle active selections using Tab or Arrow keys.
• UGUI Explicit Navigation: Select a Button in the Inspector, find the Navigation dropdown, and set it to Explicit. Drag surrounding buttons into the Up, Down, Left, and Right slots to build strict controller paths.

High-Contrast Styles

Using USS, you can create a high-contrast style profile that increases text sizing, adds background backplates, and modifies colors to satisfy accessibility standards (like WCAG guidelines).

TL;DR

• The Accessibility module links game UI text to native device screen readers.
• Add descriptive alt labels to interactive buttons and icons.
• Configure focus order to support gamepad and keyboard menu traversal.
• UGUI Explicit Navigation binds specific buttons to D-pad directions.