Accessibility Statement and Help

This accessibility statement applies to the State Bar of Michigan’s web application to take the bar exam. The Bar has invested great effort to make this web application as highly accessible as possible for users with disabilities.

The information below is provided to inform users with various disabilities about what to expect while completing this application and to guide users on how best to navigate.

This information is organized into the following categories:

For other, more general guidance on what to expect within the application and how to navigate and complete it, please visit the Navigation tips page.

Keyboard navigation and operation

The following information is for those who navigate using a keyboard or other non-mouse and non-touchscreen device.

Skip links and landmark regions

Skip links have been built into every page to allow users to skip past the banner, main navigation, and other repetitive links at the top of the page. Whenever a page loads, you can press the Tab key to display the skip links. If the skip links do not pop up after pressing Tab, try pressing Tab a second time.

The skip links differ slightly from page to page but will always include a link to the main content on that page. On most pages, there will also be a skip link to a Site Map / Main Navigation page that gives you access to every page within the site.

A Main landmark region has been defined on each page for users whose assistive technology provides shortcuts for navigating to a main region. Otherwise, pages are designed to be tabbed through. Shortcuts and other means of navigating may or may not work.

Questions and tree grid view

On the question pages, alongside (or after) the question, will be an Answer Question button. This button launches a pop up that you will use to answer this question. After saving your answer, this button will change to read Edit instead. You can click this Edit button to launch the pop up again if you need to edit the information.

Some questions accept multiple answers. For example, within the Education section, you can enter answers for multiple high schools, multiple colleges, etc. When multiple answers are entered, they will appear beneath the question.

Usually, these entries can be deleted in case you accidentally enter a duplicate, etc. On the question page, alongside (or after) the question, will be a Delete button. Clicking this button will delete that entry. Alternately, you can click the Edit button to launch the pop up again and use the Delete button at the bottom of the pop up to delete the entry. Note that the button reads Delete visibly but will read to screen readers as "Delete this entry."

Question pop ups

Each question must be answered from within a pop up. These pop ups are also designed to be tabbed through.

Be careful not to press the Escape key while in a pop up. Usually, pressing Escape will close the pop up and remove any data already entered.

If, while within a pop up, you need to look up information in order to answer the question, it is best to open a new window. Holding the CTRL key and then pressing the N key is a handy shortcut. After looking up the necessary information, you can switch back to the Bar Application window and the pop up should still be open for you to complete your answer.

Screen reader navigation and operation

Every effort has been made to make this web application operable with the widest possible variety of browsers and screen readers. However, due to incompatibilities among browsers and screen readers, certain combinations work better than others.

The following combinations of browser and screen reader are highly recommended:

  • Windows 10 with Microsoft Edge browser and NVDA 2019 or later.
  • Windows 10 with Chrome browser and the Screen Reader extension. This extension is free for the Chrome browser but note that it can only be used for web browsing, not for other purposes outside the Chrome browser.
  • Windows 10 with Chrome Browser and JAWS 2018 or later.
  • Macintosh High Sierra or later with Chrome browser and the Screen Reader extension. This extension is free for the Chrome browser but note that it can only be used for web browsing, not for other purposes outside the Chrome browser.
  • Chromebook (ChromeOS version 79 or later) with Chrome browser and ChromeVox spoken feedback.

The following combinations of browser and screen reader yield mixed results and are not highly recommended:

  • Windows with Microsoft Edge browser and JAWS 2018 or later.
  • Windows with Opera browser and NVDA 2019 or later.
  • Macintosh with Safari browser and VoiceOver.

All other combinations of browser and screen reader have either yielded poor results or have not been tested and are highly discouraged. Note, also, that this web application has not been extensively tested using mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, or Android tablets or phones.

Pages and table layout

On most pages, questions are laid out in tables. These tables are presentational but, depending on your operating system and screen reader settings, you might hear column and table numbers read.

Date fields

Date fields throughout require one of two specific formats: month and year or month, day, and year. Listen carefully to the labeling to determine which format is being requested. If a date field is typed with the incorrect format, it will automatically blank out once you Tab away from it.

Note also that month and day require two digits. For example, enter March as 03 not as 3.

In addition to being able to type a date into any date field, these fields have a date picker feature. Unfortunately, the date picker is not very accessible by keyboard or screen reader. It is best, therefore, for each date field, to type the date into the field, then Tab past the field immediately. If you want to check that the correct value was entered and retained, use Shift + Tab to navigate back to the date field.

Combo box fields

There are many combo box fields throughout the application. For example, all Country fields (for addresses) are combo boxes.

If you are using Windows with Chrome browser and JAWS, the combo boxes work best if you press the Spacebar to expand them.

If you are using any other combination of browser and screen reader, the combo boxes work best if you press the Enter key to expand them.

Once expanded, you can use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate among the options. Or, you can type the first few characters of the value you want and the dropdown list will become limited to matching values. You can then use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate among these narrowed options and then press Enter to select the correct option.

Be careful about pressing the Escape key while working with a combo box because the Escape key will often not only collapse the combo box but also close the entire pop up for that question.

Note: within Country combo boxes, the United States of America will be listed first followed by all other countries alphabetically.

Radio button fields

When operating radio button questions, you can use the Up and Down arrow keys to cycle through the options regardless of the browser used. When using Chrome browser — especially if using JAWS screen reader — after cycling through the options to reach the one you want, you might have to press the Spacebar to confirm that option as your answer.

General browser tips

Your browser will need to have JavaScript enabled. The web application cannot function with JavaScript disabled.

It will probably be easier to accurately complete the application if you turn off browser auto fill. During testing, we have experienced problems with certain fields when a browser’s auto fill feature was enabled.

Other accessibility issues

Note that there are no blinking or flashing elements anywhere within this application.

Note that you should be able to use browser zoom to zoom in up to 200% with no problems in terms of elements overlapping or becoming distorted.

Parts of this web application with low accessibility

We know that some parts of this website or not highly accessible.

Timeline visual aids

For question 22 (Residence History) and question 23 (Employment history), there is a Timeline feature. This Timeline feature provides a visualization of the answers provided and can be useful to detect time gaps that are not accounted for. These Timeline visualizations are not designed to work with screen readers. However, time gaps can be avoided by carefully answering questions. Plus, on the Review and Finalize screen at the end of the application, an accessible error message will appear if time gaps are detected. These error messages will alert users to re-examine their answers to these questions and remedy any time gaps before proceeding.

PDFs

Some of the PDFs generated by this system are not highly accessible for screen reader users. We are in the process of revamping these PDFs to be more accessible. Some PDFs may not be able to be made highly accessible but an alternate presentation of that information will be available instead.

Feedback

Our efforts are ongoing to make this web application as highly accessible as possible.

If you have comments or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this web application or wish to report an accessibility problem, please contact Christopher Dack at cdack@michbar.org.

For process questions or any issues not related to accessibility, please contact cfquestionsforms@michbar.org.

Other guidance

For other, more general guidance on what to expect within the application and how to navigate and complete it, please visit the Navigation tips page.