Is providing a fallback form valid for WCAG compliance if the original form is too complex for screen readers?

Question

I am working on a form that is a combination of chatbot and dynamic form elements, that appear and disappear based on different validation events and selections. The form progressively shows the next step, with previous steps appearing like a user has "chatted" the answer.

As a lot of elements are being added/removed a lot of the time, the aria-live attribute is giving confusing information through the screen reader (e.g. a textbox will show up at the bottom of the screen like a chat message button for some fields, then disappear when the next selection are radio buttons).

As this new form is going to be launched as a beta test, we have a previous page where the user selects some initial values that will route either to this new form or to an existing form.

Is it compliant to WCAG AA standards to do one of the following options (or, other options that are not listed here):

1. Detect the user is using aria tags via a visually hidden, but aria enabled field, and change the UI to a traditionally structured form (all elements available, less dynamic inserts/removal) when the user focuses into the form

2. Use detection on the launch page to route the user to a different page that has the basic form, keeping the two pages separated

3. Provide options that the user can navigate to (menu, checkbox or otherwise) that allows them to toggle the form to change out of the conversation mode, and provide text that explains that this option would be best for screen reader users

Answer 1

The short answer is "yes".

See "Understanding Conformance Requirements"

1. Conformance Level: One of the following levels of conformance is met in full.
Level A: For Level A conformance (the minimum level of conformance), the Web page satisfies all the Level A Success Criteria, or a conforming alternate version is provided.
Level AA: For Level AA conformance, the Web page satisfies all the Level A and Level AA Success Criteria, or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided.

See the definition of "a conforming alternate version". There are several requirements.

But, you cannot automatically switch to the alternate form. How would you know you need to switch? You can't check for assistive technology running, and even if you could, there are some users that would benefit from the simpler form that don't use assistive technology. You'll have to have a link at the top of your form that has something like "go to simpler form".