Information provided by Sean Keegan
Web Accessibility Instructor
High Tech Center Training Unit
Cupertino, CA

According to Macromedia, Flash is accessible...but the next 21 words are probably more important.

You need to export the movie in Flash Player 6 AND the Flash developer must include accessibility/usability features when creating the application.

Macromedia has done a tremendous amount of work to design an authoring tool that allows for the creation of accessible Flash content. The real problem is getting Flash developers to include accessible components into the Flash application. Most Flash developers I have spoken to are very willing - it is just they are not familiar with how the accessibility components work, how assistive technologies work, and how to create an interface that is not heavily dependent on visual effects and mouse driven actions.

Unfortunately, making Flash content is not as simple as just adding alternative text to a graphic on a webpage to make a webpage more accessible. There will also be some things that will not work or be accessible no matter how hard you try to find a solution - in those cases, you may need to ask if the Flash piece is really serving the need and is there another alternative. It is certainly not an easy question to answer (or ask), but with a bit of planning there are a number of "things" that can be done to a Flash movie to make it more accessible (i.e., set tab index, use dynamic text, allow keyboard functionality, provide a context for how the information is presented - e.g., content revealed with mouse-overs, etc.).

I generally discourage the use of Flash when regular HTML pages will suffice. That being said, there are many times when regular HTML pages do not provide the interactivity that a Flash movie can provide and then it may be more useful to develop the Flash pages.

There are a number of resources available on how to develop Flash movies, but not many regarding the accessibility functions. Here are some that I have found useful:

(They also have some examples of Flash movies usable by individuals with disabilities)

Here are some suggestions from usability experts about how and when to use Flash: