Merge branch 'master' into FE-7534

Author: mihai-albu-sage

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## [158.16.1](https://github.com/Sage/carbon/compare/v158.16.0...v158.16.1) (2026-01-14)
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **text-editor:** assistive technologies announce read only when appropriate ([21b2575](https://github.com/Sage/carbon/commit/21b25758bcd3a0d64502e26e978ef2851a897329)), closes [#7693](https://github.com/Sage/carbon/issues/7693)
+
 ## [158.16.0](https://github.com/Sage/carbon/compare/v158.15.2...v158.16.0) (2026-01-12)
 
 ### Features

package-lock.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "carbon-react",
-  "version": "158.16.0",
+  "version": "158.16.1",
   "description": "A library of reusable React components for easily building user interfaces.",
   "files": [
     "lib",

package.json

@@ -86,6 +86,12 @@ const ReadOnlyEditor = ({
               /** The following are automatically added by Lexical but violate WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value and so have been overriden */
               aria-autocomplete={undefined}
               aria-readonly={undefined}
+              /**
+               * We don't have access to the underlying element, setting a role here means the element will remain a div
+               * but assistive technologies will recognise the element as an article. Which is more suitable for an element which
+               * is meant to be read-only and non interactive/editable.
+               */
+              role="article"
             />
           }
           ErrorBoundary={LexicalErrorBoundary}

src/components/text-editor/__internal__/__ui__/ReadOnlyEditor/read-only-rte.component.tsx

@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ test("should render read-only editor with plain text", () => {
   expect(screen.getByText("Hello, World!")).toBeInTheDocument();
 });
 
+test("should render read-only editor as an article", () => {
+  render(<ReadOnlyEditor initialValue="Hello, World!" />);
+
+  const readOnlyEditor = screen.getByRole("article");
+
+  expect(readOnlyEditor).toBeVisible();
+  expect(readOnlyEditor).toHaveTextContent("Hello, World!");
+});
+
 test("should wrap plain-text links with anchors in the editor", () => {
   const sampleHTML = `<pre spellcheck="false"><span style="font-weight: 400; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Hello, World! </span><a href="www.bbc.co.uk" rel="noreferrer"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">www.bbc.co.uk</span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.google.com"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.google.com</span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://www.sage.com"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.sage.com</span></a></pre>`;
   render(<ReadOnlyEditor initialValue={sampleHTML} />);