ARIA to the rescue!
• ARIA provides semantic meaning, dynamic content updates and consistent keyboard support to AT users.
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It maps existing, well-known concepts from the operating system to the browser by:

Adding semantic meaning to meaningless markup: “provides a means of describing... custom widgets so that they are recognisable and usable by assistive technology users.” (http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introduction-to-wai-aria/)

Communicating dynamic content updates (AJAX) to assistive technology.

Providing consistent keyboard support for interactive interface elements.