A student visited our office in the Disability Resource Center (DRC) today and expressed some frustration around impacts of recent Canvas accessibility updates. I'm hoping that this group can help me get started with trouble-shooting and problem solving for them. Below is a description of what I think is happening:
Accessibility barrier in Canvas: A student relying on Apple’s native text-to-speech tools (Speak Selection, Speak Screen, and Safari's Listen to Page) can no longer use those native tools.
Here's what I think might be happening:
- Canvas "Notebook" Popup Overlay Intercepting Text Selection
The Problem: When a student attempts to highlight text on a Canvas Page to trigger Apple’s Speak Selection feature (either via touch drag, right-click, or keyboard shortcut), Canvas automatically displays the floating Notebook menu prompting them to select "Mark unclear" or "Mark important".
The Impact: This popup menu interrupts the native OS text-selection menu, making it difficult or impossible for Apple's built-in text-to-speech engine to read the selected text block aloud.
- Immersive Reader Structural Transformation
The Problem: When directed to use Microsoft Immersive Reader to bypass the issue, the tool strips out the native Canvas HTML DOM and renders a completely restructured, full-screen view.
The Impact: Because Immersive Reader overrides standard page markup and isolates text within its own frame, browser-level tools like Safari’s Listen to Page fail to detect the content, forcing the student away from their accustomed reading interface and voice settings.
Questions & Guidance Needed
Feature Management: Is there an institutional or course-level method to disable or suppress the Canvas Notebook text-selection popup overlay for courses where students use system-level text-to-speech?
Student Best Practices: What is OAI / DRC's recommended workflow for students who rely on Apple's built-in Spoken Content (rather than full screen readers like VoiceOver) to consume native Canvas pages?
Vendor Awareness: Has this text-selection event interception issue been flagged to Instructure as an accessibility conflict with native OS text-to-speech tools?
Thank you for your guidance on how best to support this student and resolve these competing UI layers.
