AskUserQuestion option picker is unusable with NVDA screen reader
Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Workaround ✓ Mentioned in description ↑
Activity 0 comments · opened Aug 22, 2026
Description
The AskUserQuestion tool's interactive option-picker screen is not accessible with NVDA (Windows screen reader). This effectively blocks the tool for blind/screen-reader users.
Environment
- Windows-native Claude Code CLI session (also reproduced accessing WSL via the same session)
- Screen reader: NVDA
- Reproduced with set in settings.json (this was the first session run with that flag enabled)
Steps to reproduce
- Enable screen reader mode ( in settings.json env)
- Trigger a tool call that uses AskUserQuestion with multiple options, each with a description
- Attempt to navigate the options with arrow keys, and attempt Ctrl+E to hear an option's longer description
Expected behavior
- Arrow-key navigation through the options should persist / be announced by the screen reader regardless of whether the user is currently focused on that exact screen region, so a selection isn't silently missed if attention moves away and back.
- Ctrl+E should read the longer description/explanation for the currently focused option, as documented.
Actual behavior
- Arrow-key navigation is not reliably exposed to NVDA — the user must remain continuously present on that specific screen to hear each option as it's read, with no way to review or re-hear the list of choices afterward.
- Ctrl+E does not produce any explanation output; it appears nonfunctional.
Workaround
Set to disable screen reader mode entirely and avoid the AskUserQuestion picker screen. This restores normal keyboard/NVDA interaction with the rest of the CLI, but obviously forgoes whatever screen-reader-specific behavior that flag is meant to enable elsewhere.
Impact
This blocks a core interactive feature (structured multiple-choice questions) for blind developers using Claude Code with NVDA.