Despite declaring their intention to implement accessibility in a future version of their Flash player, Adobe Systems continues to display a seeming disregard for accessibility of their products. Indeed, things just keep getting worse. Last week, Adobe released version 10.1 of their Flash player plugin for both the Mac and Windows operating systems, which included a large number of security fixes. Much to the frustration of visually impaired users, the installer application, which had previously been accessible, was rendered inaccessible with screen readers on both operating systems. This, of course, means that many visually impaired users are stuck using an older version of the plugin, along with all its known vulnerabilities.

Fortunately, a workaround has been posted which gives VoiceOver users the ability to install the latest version of the Flash plugin. Here are the steps:

• Download FlashPlayer version 10.1 from Adobe Systems
• Mount the disk image (.DMG) which was downloaded.
• Open the context menu on the installation application included on the disk image – "Install Adobe Flash Player.app" (VO-Shift-M)
• Select the option to "Show Package Contents".
• The contents of the app file will be displayed in a new Finder window. Navigate through the folders to Contents/Resources/
• At that location, you will find an installation package called "Adobe Flash Player.pkg". Open this package with Command-O

At this point, you can follow the normal installation steps, presented as a traditional Mac OS X installer, which is, of course, accessible.

Given the eighteen months to two years we can expect to wait for Flash accessibility, as well as the fact that, had Apple allowed Flash-based apps on the AppStore, VoiceOver users would have been subjected to far greater risks of inaccessibility when purchasing apps on their iOS devices, it is not surprising that users are taking Adobe’s assurances of a commitment to accessibility with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Thanks to John C. Welch and DaringFireball for bringing this workaround to our attention.