The Glass Wall Every Professional Faces

Ahmed, a young and smart accountant from Assiut, was highly confident in his abilities. Thanks to his mastery of the NVDA screen reader, his visual impairment had never been a barrier. He navigated spreadsheets and financial reports faster and more efficiently than some of his sighted colleagues. But all that was about to change.

His company decided to adopt a new accounting system developed specifically for them. At first, Ahmed was excited—new tools meant progress. But that excitement quickly turned into worry, and then deep frustration. The system was full of obstacles, but one obstacle alone was enough to stop him completely: the “Approve Invoice” button.

That button was the core of his job. Yet for NVDA, it simply didn’t exist. Whenever Ahmed reached it, all he heard was “Panel 7.” No name, no role, nothing. Just a ghost on the screen.

When the Usual Tricks Fail: The Moment of Despair

Ahmed didn’t give up easily. He tried every trick he knew: Object Navigation, review cursors, program shortcuts. Nothing worked.

For the first time in years, he felt that cursed glass wall separating him from his work. His colleagues approved invoices with ease, while he was stuck in front of a silent button.

He turned to the IT department, but they didn’t understand the issue. “The button works fine for us!” they replied. A feeling of helplessness began to creep in. Would this tiny obstacle be the end of his independence at work? Would he have to rely on others to perform the most important part of his job?

A Backdoor into Software: Discovering the Python Console

While desperately searching for answers, Ahmed remembered an old discussion in the Includio Professionals Community about a mysterious feature called the “Python Console”. He had always assumed it was only for developers—something complicated and far beyond his knowledge. But desperation opens doors we never dared to knock on.

To his surprise, the console wasn’t as complex as he thought. It was more like a direct hotline to NVDA’s brain, letting him send commands that bypassed the graphical interface and spoke straight to the program’s core.

The 3-Step Solution: How Ahmed Pressed the Impossible Button

With a racing heart, Ahmed stood once more on that cursed “Panel 7” and followed the steps he had learned:

  1. Open the backdoor: He pressed NVDA+Shift+Z. A distinct sound told him the console was ready for commands.
  2. Unmask the ghost: He typed a simple command to reveal the element’s identity: focus.reportFocus(). When he hit Enter, NVDA read out a stream of technical details—and the most important one was that the element had an actionable property.
  3. The decisive press: More confident now, Ahmed typed the ultimate command: focus.doAction(). He pressed Enter… silence for a moment. Then the accounting system spoke the words he had been longing to hear: “Invoice approved successfully.”

He did it! Not only had he pressed the button, but he had shattered the glass wall. It wasn’t just a technical victory—it was the complete restoration of his independence and professional worth.