diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index a4ebc95..b6aefe9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,11 +1,19 @@
 htmlwidgets 1.6.2.9000
 ------------------------------------------------------
 
+* `widget_html.*` methods can now support a `use_aria`
+argument to support accessibility.  By default, this will be
+`TRUE` in `knitr` version 1.42.12 if a `fig.alt` chunk option is
+supplied.  The default can be overridden by setting the 
+`"htmlwidgets.USE_ARIA"` option.
+* Added optional `aria-labelledby` attribute to the
+`widget_html.default()` output to work with accessibility improvements in `knitr`.  `knitr` will insert the specified
+`fig.alt` or `fig.cap` text if `use_aria` is `TRUE`.
 
 htmlwidgets 1.6.2
 ------------------------------------------------------
 
-* Closed #452: `as.tag.htmlwidget()` now includes `...` in it's function signature (for compatibility with the `htmltools::as.tags` generic).
+* Closed #452: `as.tag.htmlwidget()` now includes `...` in its function signature (for compatibility with the `htmltools::as.tags` generic).
 
 htmlwidgets 1.6.1
 ------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/R/htmlwidgets.R b/R/htmlwidgets.R
index 2c78cec..163ac92 100644
--- a/R/htmlwidgets.R
+++ b/R/htmlwidgets.R
@@ -167,6 +167,12 @@ addHook <- function(x, hookName, jsCode, data = NULL) {
   x
 }
 
+do_use_aria <- function(knitrOptions) {
+  getOption("htmlwidgets.USE_ARIA") %||%
+  ("fig.alt" %in% names(knitrOptions) &&
+    isNamespaceLoaded("knitr") &&
+    packageVersion("knitr") >= "1.42.12")
+}
 
 toHTML <- function(x, standalone = FALSE, knitrOptions = NULL) {
 
@@ -192,7 +198,8 @@ toHTML <- function(x, standalone = FALSE, knitrOptions = NULL) {
       if (sizeInfo$fill) "html-fill-item-overflow-hidden"
     ),
     width = sizeInfo$width,
-    height = sizeInfo$height
+    height = sizeInfo$height,
+    use_aria = do_use_aria(knitrOptions)
   )
 
   html <- bindFillRole(html, item = sizeInfo$fill)
@@ -257,18 +264,22 @@ lookup_widget_html_method <- function(name, package) {
   list(fn = widget_html.default, name = "widget_html.default", legacy = FALSE)
 }
 
-widget_html <- function(name, package, id, style, class, inline = FALSE, ...) {
+widget_html <- function(name, package, id, style, class, inline = FALSE, use_aria = FALSE, ...) {
 
   fn_info <- lookup_widget_html_method(name, package)
 
   fn <- fn_info[["fn"]]
   # id, style, and class have been required args for years, but inline is fairly new
-  # and undocumented, so unsuprisingly there are widgets out there are don't have an
+  # and undocumented, so unsurprisingly there are widgets out there that don't have an
   # inline arg https://github.com/renkun-ken/formattable/blob/484777/R/render.R#L79-L88
   args <- list(id = id, style = style, class = class, ...)
   if ("inline" %in% names(formals(fn))) {
     args$inline <- inline
   }
+  # use_aria was added to support accessibility in knitr
+  if ("use_aria" %in% names(formals(fn))) {
+    args$use_aria <- use_aria
+  }
   fn_res <- do.call(fn, args)
   if (isTRUE(fn_info[["legacy"]])) {
     # For the PACKAGE:::NAME_html form (only), we worry about false positives;
@@ -284,11 +295,14 @@ widget_html <- function(name, package, id, style, class, inline = FALSE, ...) {
   fn_res
 }
 
-widget_html.default <- function (name, package, id, style, class, inline = FALSE, ...) {
+widget_html.default <- function (name, package, id, style, class, inline = FALSE, use_aria = FALSE, ...) {
   if (inline) {
     tags$span(id = id, style = style, class = class)
-  } else {
+  } else if (!use_aria) {
     tags$div(id = id, style = style, class = class)
+  } else {
+    tags$div(id = id, style = style, class = class,
+             "aria-labelledby" = paste0(id, "-aria"))
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-htmlwidgets.R b/tests/testthat/test-htmlwidgets.R
index cac418b..1797bf8 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-htmlwidgets.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-htmlwidgets.R
@@ -42,3 +42,10 @@ test_that("Legacy methods work with tagList() and HTML()", {
     widget_html("widgetF", "htmlwidgets", id = "id", style = NULL, class = NULL)
   }, NA)
 })
+
+test_that("The widget_html.default respects use_aria option", {
+  res <- widget_html("does_not_exist", "htmlwidgets", id = "id", style = NULL, class = NULL, use_aria = TRUE)
+  expect_identical(res, tags$div(id = "id", "aria-labelledby" = "id-aria"))
+  res <- widget_html("does_not_exist", "htmlwidgets", id = "id", style = NULL, class = NULL, use_aria = FALSE)
+  expect_identical(res, tags$div(id = "id"))
+})
diff --git a/vignettes/develop_advanced.Rmd b/vignettes/develop_advanced.Rmd
index 3182acb..b5c2857 100644
--- a/vignettes/develop_advanced.Rmd
+++ b/vignettes/develop_advanced.Rmd
@@ -187,3 +187,31 @@ Note that this function is looked up within the package implementing the widget
 (**htmlwidgets** 1.5.2 and earlier used a convention of <code><em>widgetname</em>_html</code>. This is still supported for now, but the new <code>widget_html.<em>widgetname</em></code> convention is recommended going forward, as it seems less likely to lead to false positives.)
 
 Most widgets won't need a custom HTML function but if you need to generate custom HTML for your widget (e.g. you need an `<input>` or a `<span>` rather than a `<div>`) then you should use the **htmltools** package (as demonstrated by the code above).
+
+### Accessibility
+
+By default, widgets will usually be invisible to screen readers
+and other accessibility aids, but there is now some support
+in `htmlwidgets` when used with `knitr` version 1.42.12 or higher.
+That version added support for including alternate text in a
+widget:  if the
+HTML housing for the widget contains an `aria-labelledby`
+attribute, `knitr` will construct a label based on the
+`fig.alt` or `fig.cap` text provided in the chunk options.
+
+To support this, the `widget_html.default` function has a 
+new argument `use_aria`.  If `TRUE`, it will insert an
+`aria-labelledby` attribute containing `<id>-aria`, where
+`<id>` is the id of the widget.  If custom widgets have that
+argument, they'll also receive the value.
+
+The value will be automatically set to `TRUE` if the installed version
+of `knitr` is sufficient and the `htmlwidgets::toHTML` function detects
+a `fig.alt` setting in `knitrOptions`.  This setting can
+be overridden by setting `options("htmlwidgets.USE_ARIA")` to
+`TRUE` or `FALSE`.
+
+Widget developers are advised to test this feature with one or
+more screen readers, as they are not entirely consistent in 
+supporting it.  For example, the `rgl` package added a `role="img"`
+attribute so that one screen reader would detect its figures.