Hello. Teams is definitely accessible but it has its share of accessibility quirks. Sometimes, it appears to randomly become unresponsive to screen readers. The solution to this problem is to either restart Teams or to change the size of the window, such as restoring or maximizing with Windows-down arrow or Windows-up arrow, respectively. I believe that Microsoft is aware of these issues and, for me, this never happens anymore.

At times navigating with tab and shift-tab produces inconsistent results. When moving backward with shift-tab you will sometimes find that many items in the tab order are skipped and they are found when using tab to move forward. One thing that I really like about Teams is that navigating chats and messages in a public channel can be done either with up/down arrow keys or by enabling the virtual cursor, where dates and messages are nicely categorized by headings.

I run a discussion group for users of Teams who need accessibility and you're more than welcome to subscribe. To do so, send a message to

teams-access+subscribe@groups.io


I would respectfully ask that people not write to me privately with support questions regarding Teams as I don't have enough time to provide individual support. Instead, please post them on a relevant list, either this one if doing so is permitted or the Teams-access list. This way others can answer the question and you'll also receive help much faster.



David Goldfield,
Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist
JAWS Certified, 2019

WWW.DavidGoldfield.org