diff --git a/.jules/palette.md b/.jules/palette.md
index ea004e2d2..702434ba2 100644
--- a/.jules/palette.md
+++ b/.jules/palette.md
@@ -81,3 +81,7 @@
 ## 2026-08-12 - Skip to Content Accessibility
 **Learning:** Screen reader and keyboard-only users experience significant friction when forced to navigate through repetitive header controls on every page load.
 **Action:** Keep a visible-on-focus skip link as the first interactive element, target a programmatically focusable main container, and give the focused link a high-contrast outline.
+
+## 2026-10-02 - Proxy Button Accessibility
+**Learning:** Native `<input type="file">` elements are hard to style consistently. While replacing them with a custom button proxy improves visual design, developers often forget to make the hidden input inaccessible (`class="sr-only" tabindex="-1" aria-hidden="true"`) to screen readers, which leads to double announcements or confusing navigation.
+**Action:** When replacing a native file input with a proxy button in UI components, always hide the native input explicitly using `aria-hidden="true"`, `class="sr-only"`, and `tabindex="-1"`. The proxy button should have standard keyboard support and trigger the hidden input dynamically. Ensure UI contract tests are updated to verify the new accessible structure instead of just looking for `aria-label` on the hidden input.
diff --git a/scanner/dashboard/index.html b/scanner/dashboard/index.html
index 132bc31b2..1a9b400f7 100644
--- a/scanner/dashboard/index.html
+++ b/scanner/dashboard/index.html
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@
   <span class="logo"></span><span class="brand">AppGuardrail</span>
   <span class="spacer"></span>
   <span class="meta" id="src">no findings loaded</span>
-  <input type="file" id="file" accept="application/json,.json" aria-label="Upload findings file" style="margin-left:12px">
+  <button type="button" class="primary-action" id="header-browse" style="margin-left:12px">Upload findings</button>
+  <input type="file" id="file" accept="application/json,.json" class="sr-only" tabindex="-1" aria-hidden="true">
 </header>
 <p id="findings-summary" class="sr-only" role="status" aria-live="polite" aria-atomic="true"></p>
 <main id="app" tabindex="-1"></main>
@@ -325,6 +326,8 @@ <h1>Dashboard</h1>
 }
 
 const fileInput = document.getElementById('file');
+const headerBrowse = document.getElementById('header-browse');
+if(headerBrowse) headerBrowse.addEventListener('click', () => fileInput.click());
 fileInput.addEventListener('change', () => {
   const selectedFile = fileInput.files?.[0];
   fileInput.value = '';
diff --git a/tests/test_dashboard_core.py b/tests/test_dashboard_core.py
index 75a5809f8..07bed63e2 100644
--- a/tests/test_dashboard_core.py
+++ b/tests/test_dashboard_core.py
@@ -77,7 +77,9 @@ def test_dashboard_rows_are_keyboard_accessible():
     assert 'tabindex="0" role="button"' in html
     assert 'title="View details for finding"' in html
     assert "tbody tr:focus-visible" in html
-    assert "aria-label=\"Upload findings file\"" in html
+    assert 'class="sr-only" tabindex="-1" aria-hidden="true"' in html
+    assert 'id="header-browse"' in html
+    assert "headerBrowse.addEventListener('click', () => fileInput.click());" in html
     assert "aria-label=\"Search findings\"" in html
     assert "aria-label=\"Filter by severity\"" in html
     assert "tr.addEventListener('keydown'" in html