A: Deprecated ARIA roles must not be used (WCAG 4.1.2)

• Meaning
• Impact
• Recommendation
• Examples

Ensure that the elements do not use deprecated roles.

This means

An element uses a deprecated ARIA role from older specifications. Modern AT/browsers expect current roles – deprecated designations may be ignored or interpreted inconsistently.

Impact

Low but real risks: inconsistent screen reader announcements, poorer compatibility, and unnecessary maintenance burden. Also a formal WCAG violation.

Recommendation

• Use current roles from the WAI-ARIA specification.
• If possible, use native HTML elements instead of ARIA (better semantics “by default”).
• Remove unnecessary role attributes (do not set them “just in case”).
• For migration code: map deprecated role to the recommended, current role or to native markup.

Example

Problematic

<div role="directory">Team</div>   <!-- deprecated role -->

Better

<ul>
  <li>Team</li>
</ul>                              <!-- native, current markup -->