VoiceOver iOS: Moving focus automatically selects a radio

[swashbuck]

Subject of the issue

We have recently had an accessibility audit for one of our clients. The consulting agency flagged the following issue regarding the selection of options in an MCQ and GMCQ.

When navigating with VoiceOver on iOS, users cannot focus on a radio button without it also being selected. They said that "VoiceOver users will be unable to complete the test sections." However, I can still make a selection. It's just that I can't focus on an option without also selecting it.

Their recommendation:

Ensure that moving VoiceOver focus does not also automatically select a radio button. Focus should move freely between the radio buttons without automatically selecting one.

They also linked to a Codepen demonstrating how VoiceOver should interact with radio buttons. Clicking on an option does not select the radio button. Only a double-tap will do this.

Is this behavior intentional? Do we need to take a look at how this is implemented with regard to iOS VoiceOver?

Type: WCAG 2
Principle: Understandable
Level: A
Severity: Critical
Guideline: 3.2 Predictable
Success Criteria: 3.2.1 On Focus (A)

[oliverfoster]

If you look at the blame of these lines, where the behaviour deliberately originates:
https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt-contrib-mcq/blame/13ca7d2be636598336660c6a2a90540b5262d51f/js/McqView.js#L29-L32

This commit e78b567

For this pr #200
For these issues #199 and #203

Having retested the previous issue, that issue now seems utterly counter intuitive and the solution is incorrect.

I've made a pr to revert the behaviour and retested on ios, nvda and jaws. It now works fine and your issue above is fixed. There is a pr for both the mcq and gmcq, linked.

They were correct, in that using left/right swipe only on ios voiceover, it was impossible to get to the submit button without selecting the last radio button always.

Reference: https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/radio/