md-select doesn't read currently selected item in screen readers

[calebegg]

A native <select> reads aloud the currently selected item when you focus it. <md-select> does not. Reproduced in JAWS/Firefox and Chromevox.

This can be reproduced on the demo page.

[rschmukler]

@marcysutton can you help me out with this?

[marcysutton]

There are a few things that make this a challenging one to fix. First, there is no native <input> to put a label on....so, aria-label has been set to "State" on the select. But then, there is no way to announce a default value unless we append it to aria-label, combining the label and value into one string. Second, because the options are not present until you interact with the select and they are in a different part of the DOM, we can't reliably use aria-activedescendant to announce the value.

So, I have two ideas:

1. try jamming the default value into aria-label along with the actual label (updating with value changes)
2. move md-select-menu to a descendant of md-select that is always present, instead of injecting on user interaction, and using aria-activedescendant to announce the selected option.

The first one is a total hack, but it's a lot less risk and much more likely to get done.