The “Presentational Role Check” evaluates whether all elements with a presentational role (e.g., role="presentation" or aria-hidden="true") do not contain any focusable content, such as links, buttons, or form fields.
Example outcome
I observed that no elements with presentational children have focusable content.
Impact
Visual Impairments: Assistive tech may skip the presentational container but then unexpectedly encounter focusable items inside it, creating a disjointed or broken experience. Focusable children may appear “out of context” or with no meaningful parent or label.
Motor Impairments: The keyboard may tab into elements that don’t appear to have any function or context visually or semantically.
Cognitive Disabilities: Unexpected behavior when navigating can cause disorientation or cognitive overload, especially in complex layouts.
Fixes
To address children elements with focusable content inside a container with a presentational role:
Locate the focusable element.
Remove the element from the presentational container.
If it must be inside the container, remove or replace the presentational role from the container.