2.4.7 Focus Visible

Regarding rule 2.4.7, Focus Visible, I have concerns about a side effect of
interpretation that I am increasingly seeing in the development community.

2.4.7 specifically only mentions a requirement for a visible focus on
keyboard use. This is increasingly being used/abused in the development
community to remove/suppress all focus indicators on mouse click.

There are dozens of articles, Google search, proposing the use of the
following CSS to inhibit mouse click focus but retain keyboard focus to
meet rule 2.4.7, because developers have traditionally disliked focus
indicatirs for aesthetic reasons.

:focus:not(:focus-visible)

However, focus states are not ONLY used by keyboard users in practice,
indeed most visually impaired users predominantly rely on the mouse for
navigation, not the keyboard, and rely on visible focus and hover states
because they find the pointer hard to see. Focus is also important for
people with learning disabilities so they can clearly see, and remember,
the active element on a web page.

Just because a user is visually impaired or has learning disabilities
should not relegate them to being forced to use a keyboard in order to gain
visible focus indication - that rather defeats the purpose of accessibility
by making it harder for some users. Hence why I have termed the use of
2.4.7 an an abuse.

I would therefore propose a rewording of 2.4.7 to include Focus Visible on
mouse click also, or at the very least an advisory warning developers not
to abuse 2.4.7 as an excuse to disable focus on click.